The UW-Whitewater Women’s Tennis team played a great match at UW-Stevens Point, Oct. 3. They blew away the competition with a 3-0 lead in less than an hour and went into the doubles matches. Ending the evening off with a 9-0 victory against the Pointers.

Sophomore Gracie Ha and junior Cassie Lee started off strong with an 8-5 lead, setting the team up for a great match. Senior Mackenzie Lindow scored the first win of the singles competition at number four, before freshman Alex Repplier and junior Sarah Ferguson brought in back-to-back wins at number five and number six, bringing the Warhawks to victory.

“I could say that I definitely wasn’t my best. Yesterday was super windy at Stevens Point and we’ve never really had a match where we had to adjust our technique like we did, so I think the wind was a huge factor in the performance and outcome,” Ha said. 

This was the first match where the team has had to make such a big adjustment to their strategy in such a short time period and they played it off impressing well. 

Head coach Frank Barnes said he, “gave the girls a weekend off after the first month, and then started with a bunch of singles matches last practice to get ready for today,” which most likely played a role in the great performance we saw at Stevens Point.

Gracie Ha said her goals for this season are improvement, not only as an individual, but as a team. Winning as many matches as she can and hopefully going as far as the NCAA tournament.

“One of the goals that I have is I just really want to put everything I have out there on the court,” Ha said. “I definitely did that but looking ahead I want to win the conference and continue our streak as a team.”

With the work they’ve been putting in, it definitely looks like a very feasible feat. 

“All the players were cheering each other on. I think the positive attitude from everyone helped get us in the place we needed to be,” Barnes said.

Barnes again harped the significance of teamwork and strong leadership’s impact on players’ performance. A point that Ha also sees as important.

The Warhawks capped off the week hosting a number of scholarship teams, including two Division I opponents. The raised level of competition for the Warhawks was significant but they were still able to have some success. Ferguson took gold in the five singles bracket. Repplier won the four singles consolation title after having lost to the main draw’s champion in the first round. Ashley Adkisson also won in the consolation side at five singles, while two Warhawk doubles teams were runners up in their brackets.

In the coming weekend, the team will be competing in the ITA Oracle Cup Nationals tournament in Georgia.