Warhawk women’s tennis participated in the Midwest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament at several venues including some at home over four days of play from Friday, Sept. 22 to Monday, Sept. 25. Although none of the women advanced to the finals, they all fought hard and some of them went farther than they had expected in the tourney.
A few of the singles matches had rough starts, with losses in the first or second round. Freshman Alex Repplier and junior Cassie Lee both had two initial wins, but lost in the third round they competed in. Nine of the players on the team competed in total, the majority of them pulling through with at least one win.
“Singles were really good,” Barnes said. “The first day everyone had great matches. Of the nine players they all had multiple wins throughout the weekend. Gracie, Alex and Cassie all had really close losses and they definitely were showing that they’re able to compete with the top players in the region. Cassie lost to a player from Eau Claire who she’s beaten like six or seven times and she ended up losing her match tiebreaker so that was one we thought we could have won. Gracie lost a close one to the number one seed so that obviously would have been huge, but overall they all had great performances.”
The Warhawks had four doubles compete at the championships. Those were senior Kelly Ha and sophomore Molly Asfeld, senior MacKenzie Lindow and Repplier, Lee and sophomore Gracie Ha (sister of Kelly Ha), and lastly, junior Sarah Ferguson and sophomore Megan Griswold. Lee and Ha went the furthest, making it all the way to the semifinals match. It was there that they lost 8-4 after having a dominating performance together.
“We were playing amazing up until the semi final,” Barnes said. “Some of the best doubles they played pretty much since I’ve seen them. We knocked off teams pretty routinely on the way to the semi final. They started off slow and they got cut off into a big hole. They were just down in points and couldn’t climb back but were pretty close. So I am definitely proud of their effort and they played great and they were clicking beforehand. We just didn’t get some of the switches, but everyone got great, tough matches and that kind of helps us as we get ready for our next tournament.”
There were also the consolation singles, which in total, four players signed up for. These were for anyone who didn’t make it as far and wanted to get another chance to play more. The A singles included Griswold and Ferguson. Both went to the quarterfinals there but both ended up losing 8-3.
The B singles included freshman Ashley Adkisson and also Lindow. Adkisson competed well and made it to the semifinals there 8-5. Lindow got to the quarterfinals but had a super tough match and ended up losing after a tiebreaker.
“I can’t say enough that our team played amazing this past weekend,” Gracie Ha said. “We put in a lot of hard work throughout each day and it definitely paid off going into the ITA tournament and each day as I watched my teammates play I was just super proud of them no matter how they did. If they did lose a tough one I knew they put so much hard work into this tournament throughout the practice week.”
Overall the Warhawks can say they had some good battles during the weekend. They are now looking forward to their next matches, which will take place during the Warhawk Invite over two days at home.
“We are looking forward to having this upcoming weekend fully off, but our team will just once again put in the hard work in each practice and just kind of be excited for the conference tournament,” Ha said. “I know it’s our last big tournament of the fall season, so I think we’re definitely looking forward to that.”
This invite will host some big name competition including UW-Milwaukee and will be a good preparation for the WIAC Championship that is approaching Oct. 22.
