After a change in location and time due to weather, the UW-Whitewater Women’s Tennis team came out victorious against North Central College with a score of 6-3 on Sunday April 16.

In the second and third flights of the doubles matches, the women defeated their opponents.  Junior Kasey Schlicht and her junior partner Kellie Ha went 8-0 in the second flight. Following that in the third flight, sophomore Gianna Nikoleit and her senior partner Courtney Day went 8-5. 

“Winning the doubles match was huge for momentum, so we had a lift right before singles with the energy,” head coach Frank Barnes said. “The first four singles went on and we ended up splitting the first four.”

Sophomore Cassie Lee and Schlicht won the third and fourth singles matches, and the team built off that momentum to win the last two singles matches. Those victories belonged to Ha and then her younger sister, freshman, Gracie Ha. 

“ I just had that same mindset to go out there and give it my all no matter how well I played last weekend because obviously it’s a new weekend so anything can happen,” G. Ha said. “This time I had to wait because we only had four courts, so I was definitely anxious. But as I was warming up for my match, I just felt really good. Even just throughout the whole entire match today, I felt really great. I felt my confidence was at a super high level and I just gave it my all.”

Those singles matches are what solidified the win for the Warhawks. They are already looking towards their next match, which is to take place Tuesday April 18, at home. Due to the change in this match location, the upcoming match will be the first of the outdoor season.

“We had a bunch of home matches in the fall but they really like playing outdoors,” Barnes said. “ So that should help us get ready for the following week when we host the Final Four AQ tournament.”

Barnes also said that even though the tournament is a pretty big one, the team tries not to put any match’s importance above the importance of another. They approach “each match as the same.”

For the upcoming home match, the team is going to try and take a minor rest day considering the close time frame between the matches. But, Barnes said the team will still be prepared especially with mental and physical rest after the good performance today.

“I think our team did an amazing job today,” K. Ha said. “They were a really good team, they bring to the competition and if anything, it just makes our team more competitive. I’m very proud of them as a captain just because everyone put their best out there and were able to cheer each other on, which I’m very happy for.”