Titans Place Fourth At WIAC Championship
Michelle Spicer's third-place finish at No. 5 singles helped UW-Oshkosh rank fourth among seven teams at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Tennis Championship (Presented by Culver's) held Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 20-21) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
UW-Oshkosh totaled 32 points at the championship to finish fourth in the league's overall standings with 12. The overall league finish advances the Titans to the WIAC Team Tournament that will be held next April at UW-Whitewater. The winner of that four-team event earns the WIAC's automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship.
UW-Whitewater went unbeaten during league's regular-season dual meet competition and finished first at the WIAC Championship to win the conference's overall title for the 12th consecutive year and 19th time in school history.
UW-Whitewater captured first place at the WIAC Championship with 62 points while UW-La Crosse finished second with 52, UW-Eau Claire third with 47, UW-Oshkosh fourth (32), UW-River Falls fifth with 28, UW-Stout sixth with 20 and UW-Stevens Point seventh with 11.
In WIAC dual matches, UW-Whitewater went unbeaten in six league contests (7 points) while UW-Eau Claire ranked second at 5-1 (6 points), UW-La Crosse third at 4-2 (5 points), UW-Oshkosh fourth at 3-3 (4 points), UW-River Falls fifth at 2-4 (3 points), UW-Stout sixth at 1-5 (2 points) and UW-Stevens Point seventh at 0-6 (1 point).
The overall conference champion was determined by using a combination of the league's regular-season dual meet standings and the WIAC Championship finish. The regular-season dual meet rankings accounted for one-third of the criteria while the conference championship accounted for the remaining two-thirds.
UW-Whitewater won the overall WIAC title with 21 points while UW-La Crosse finished second with 17, UW-Eau Claire third with 16, UW-Oshkosh fourth (12), UW-River Falls fifth with nine, UW-Stout sixth with six and UW-Stevens Point seventh with three.
UW-Whitewater, UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire also advanced with UW-Oshkosh to next spring's WIAC Team Tournament. The Titans will play UW-Whitewater in their semifinal round match.
Spicer, a freshman, finished third with a 2-1 record at No. 5 singles. The fifth-seeded Spicer defeated fourth-seeded Mariah Kent of UW-Stout, 6-3, 6-1, before losing a 6-3, 6-2 decision to top-seeded and eventual champion Madeline Slicker of UW-Whitewater. Spicer then won her third-place match with a 7-5, 6-4 result over third-seeded Emma Barnd of UW-Eau Claire.
Finishing fourth for the Titans were third-seeded Alyssa Leffler at No. 1 and fourth-seeded Samantha Koppa at No. 3 singles.
Leffler defeated sixth-seeded Linsey Thisius of UW-Stout, 7-6 (3), 6-0), before losing a 6-1, 6-0 verdict to second-seeded Natalie Wijesinghe of UW-Eau Claire. Leffler lost her third-place match by a 6-3, 6-1 result to fifth-seeded Kimberly Steinert of UW-La Crosse.
Koppa ousted fifth-seeded Kennedy Kleist of UW-Stout, 6-1, 6-4, before suffering a 6-2, 6-4 loss to top-seeded Sadie Spahn of UW-La Crosse. Koppa then lost her third-place contest by a 6-3, 6-1 decision to third-seeded Molly Stewart of UW-Eau Claire.
UW-Oshkosh also had a trio of fifth-place finishes in singles play – Hannah Peters in the second flight (1-1 record), Kelley Hodyl in the fourth flight (2-1 record) and Ireland Slattery in the sixth (1-1 record).
In doubles play, Koppa and Peters earned fourth place in the second flight with a 1-2 record. The fifth-seeded UW-Oshkosh duo defeated UW-Stout's fourth-seeded tandem of Kleist and Gabe Kelch, 8-1, before losing an 8-5 outcome to UW-Eau Claire's third-seeded partners of Stewart and Hanna Zevenhagen, 8-5. Koppa and Peters settled for fourth place after losing a 9-7 decision to UW-La Crosse's second-seeded group of Steinert and Alyssa Boyer in their third-place contest.
Fifth-place finishes in doubles play went to the UW-Oshkosh tandems of Leffler and Spicer in the first flight (1-1 record) and Jenna Peterson and Ashlee Polena in the third (1-1 record).