The UW-Whitewater women’s tennis team rode their two-game winning streak into the Warhawk Fall Invite Oct. 3-4, playing against Division III’s No. 17 Gustavus Adolphus, DI’s UW-Milwaukee, and NAIA’s Olivet Nazarene University.
Although it was a shaky start, the women battled hard for the first day of the invite.
“It was definitely a rough start in the beginning, at least for doubles,” senior captain Gracie Ha said. “It’s definitely a tough tournament with so many good schools like Milwaukee and Gustavus, so we definitely put up a fight today.”
The Warhawks had a couple of pairs competing in the top bracket for doubles: Ha and sophomore Abigail Weaver as well as senior Molly Asfeld and sophomore Crystina Lee. Ha and Weaver bounced back in the consolation bracket after a tough first match.
“We stayed positive and focused on lifting each other up,” Weaver said.
Staying patient was a key factor for the Warhawks as it helped them control their emotions and take a moment to reset.
The dynamic duo of Ha and Weaver faced Asfeld and Lee in the consolation side of the bracket, and won the matchup 6-0.
The doubles two tournament was all Warhawks as junior Abigail McIssac and freshman Julia Nill reached the finals, running into fellow teammates, freshmen Josie Wojcikiewicz and Kaitlyn Remke, who ended their run.
“Overall, we are taking the right steps playing in this kind of event with our players and seeing them compete against high level division three opponents as well as some scholarship schools like UW-Milwaukee,” head coach Byron Balkin said. “I thought we did well. I think we had some great matches out there today that were really competitive.
Setting the tone and getting more comfortable is the challenge for this team, but that is the growth they saw from today’s action.
“Focus on how we compose ourselves and know that we have to act like we’ve been there before,” Balkin said.
From players to coaches, it’s growth that everyone can take away from the matches. The small details can really make a difference for a team. One of these details is the ability to stay composed while not letting emotions get the best of them.
“I keep telling them to just trust themselves and believe,” Ha said. “They’ll execute really well if they just put their mind to it and it’ll go their way at the end.”
The Warhawks continued the fall invite Saturday, Oct. 4, as seven athletes advanced to the main bracket for the semifinals in the singles tournament including Weaver, who advanced Oct. 3.
“Abby Weaver had a really good singles match and was able to pull out a win against a really good opponent that’s given us a lot of challenges in the past. So kudos to her,” Balkin said.
Weaver continued her turn-around and advanced to the championship round as she won both of her matches. The opening round was a straight set win followed by a tiebreaker win in the semifinal. After dropping her first set 6-1, Weaver turned it around and won six straight games to take the second set. She then closed it out with an 11-9 tiebreaker to advance to the finals in the singles bracket.
In the singles two bracket, junior Ashley Adkisson took a third place finish. Adkisson split the first two sets, 5-7, 7-5, then took the tiebreaker 10-6.
The fourth singles bracket was all Warhawks. Wojcikiewicz and freshman Chloe Knutson won two matches in a row to reach the finals. Knutson would come out on top, defeating her teammate 6-3, 7-5.
The Warhawks’ next home match is on Saturday, Oct. 18, where they face WIAC rival UW-Stout.
