Titans Finish Fourth At WIAC Championship
UW-Oshkosh had fourth-place finishers in six of the nine flights of competition at the WIAC Women's Tennis Championship (Presented by Culver's) held Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 22-23) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
The Titans finished fourth at the championship with 30 points and fourth in the overall standings with 12. The overall ranking advances UW-Oshkosh to the WIAC Team Tournament that will be held next April at UW-Whitewater. The winner of that event will earn the WIAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship.
UW-Whitewater captured first place both at the championship and during the league's regular season dual meet competition to win the WIAC's overall title for the 10th consecutive year and 17th time in school history.
The Warhawks took first place at the championship with 62 points while UW-Eau Claire finished second with 51, UW-La Crosse third with 49, UW-Oshkosh fourth with 40, UW-Stout fifth with 26 and both UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point sixth with 17.
In dual matches, UW-Whitewater finished first with a 6-0 league record while UW-La Crosse placed second at 5-1, UW-Eau Claire third at 4-2, UW-Oshkosh fourth at 3-3, UW-Stout fifth at 2-4, UW-Stevens Point sixth at 1-5 and UW-River Falls seventh at 0-6.
The overall champion was determined by using a combination of the league's regular season dual meet standings and the WIAC Championship results. The finish in the regular season standings accounted for one-third of the criteria while the conference championship accounted for the remaining two-thirds.
UW-Whitewater claimed the overall title with 21 points while UW-Eau Claire listed second with 17, UW-La Crosse third with 16, UW-Stout fifth with nine, UW-Stevens Point sixth with five and UW-River Falls seventh with four.
UW-Whitewater, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse also advanced with UW-Oshkosh to next spring's WIAC Team Tournament. The Titans will play UW-Whitewater in their semifinal round match.
At this year's WIAC Championship, UW-Whitewater won five singles and all three doubles titles.
The Warhawks collected individual titles from Megan Humphreys in the first flight, Gabi Kitchell in the second, Alexandra Talyansky in the third, Jillian Wallace in the fourth and Brittany Goebel in the fifth.
In doubles action, UW-Whitewater received titles from Humphreys and Kitchell in the first flight, Talyansky and Wallace in the second and Goebel and Siemon in the third.
UW-Eau Claire's Bailey Budnik was crowned the champion at No. 6 singles.
Finishing fourth for UW-Oshkosh with 1-2 records in the individual competition were Bailey Sagen in the first flight, Alyssa Leffler in the second, Hannah Peters in the third and Samantha Koppa in the fifth.
Sagen defeated Linsey Thisius of UW-Stout, 6-0, 6-1, in the first round before dropping a 6-0, 6-0 result to eventual champion Megan Humphreys of UW-Whitewater. She then lost a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision to Sarah Henderson of UW-Eau Claire in the third-place match.
Leffler ousted Erin Lemmer of UW-Stevens Point, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round before losing a 6-0, 6-0 verdict to eventual champion Gabi Kitchell of UW-Whitewater. Leffler then dropped a 6-2, 6-2 result to Sadie Spahn of UW-La Crosse in the third-place contest.
Peters outscored Katie Kreibich of UW-Stout, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round before losing a 6-1, 6-1, decision to eventual champion Alexandra Talyansky of UW-Whitewater. She then lost a 6-4, 6-3 ruling to UW-Eau Claire's Olivia Gallagher in the third-place match.
Koppa defeated Anna Lano of UW-Stout, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round before dropping a 6-0, 6-1 result to Maura Anderson of UW-La Crosse. Koppa then lost a 6-2, 6-1 decision to UW-Eau Claire's Kendra Berry in the third-place contest.
Taking fourth place for the Titans with 1-2 records in the doubles category were Peters and Sagen in the first flight and Koppa and Leffler in the second.
Peters and Sagen opened play with an 8-4 victory over Lano and Thisius from UW-Stout. The UW-Oshkosh tandem then lost an 8-1 decision to eventual champion Humphreys and Kitchell from UW-Whitewater before losing an 8-3 result to Spahn and Bridget Bellissimo from UW-La Crosse in the third-place match.
Koppa and Leffler began their activity with an 8-6 win over Lemmer and Abbey Johnson from UW-Stevens Point. The Titan duo then dropped an 8-1 result to eventual champion Talyansky and Jillian Wallace from UW-Whitewater before losing an 8-3 decision to Gallagher and Molly Stewart from UW-Eau Claire in the third-place contest.
UW-Oshkosh also had Annie Docter place fifth (1-1 record) at No. 4 singles, Monica Micoliczyk sixth (1-2) at No. 6 singles and Hannah Nauth and Ashlee Polena (0-2) seventh at No. 3 doubles.
UW-Oshkosh continues its 2016-17 schedule in March.