Titans Journey To Madison For WIAC Tennis Championship
Two-time top-four finisher Michelle Spicer leads UW-Oshkosh into this weekend's competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship (Presented by Culver's) in Madison.
Activity begins at 1 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 23) and 9 a.m. Sunday (Oct. 24) at the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The 50th assembly of WIAC teams will finalize the league standings and determine six singles champions and three sets of doubles winners.
The initial day of competition will consist of the first two rounds of doubles matches followed by the first round of singles contests. The second day of the tournament will feature the final two rounds of singles matches followed by the last round of doubles contests.
The top four squads from this weekend's seven-team championship will advance to the WIAC Team Tournament in April. That event will be held at the site of the overall WIAC champion and determine the league's automatic qualifier to the 2022 NCAA Division III Championship.
The overall team title will be determined by using a combination of the regular season dual meet standings and the WIAC Championship results. The finish in the regular season standings accounts for one-third of the criteria while the conference championship finish accounts for the remaining two-thirds.
Point distribution following this year's dual-meet rotation had UW-Whitewater (6-0 record) acquiring seven points, UW-Eau Claire (5-1) six, UW-La Crosse (4-2) five, UW-Stevens Point (3-3) four, UW-Stout (2-4) three, UW-River Falls (1-5) two and UW-Oshkosh (0-6) one.
This weekend, UW-Whitewater aims for its 15th straight WIAC title. The Warhawks own five No. 1 seeds while UW-Eau Claire possesses three and UW-La Crosse one.
UW-Whitewater collected its league-best 21st title in program history last spring. The championship was determined using a team dual-match format because the usual fall championship was unable to be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UW-Whitewater secured the title with a 5-1 triumph over UW-La Crosse, a 15-time WIAC champion.
Spicer, who finished third at No. 5 singles during the 2018 WIAC Championship and fourth at No. 4 singles in 2019, is seeded sixth for this year's league tournament at No. 1 singles. She will take her 26 individual career victories into Saturday's opening round contest against third-seeded Elaine Franta of UW-Eau Claire.
Spicer and teammate Jenna Nolde earned a sixth seed for the Titans at No. 1 doubles. The UW-Oshkosh duo begins play against third-seeded Autumn Bruno and Cassandra Lee of UW-Whitewater.
Also seeded sixth for UW-Oshkosh is Nolde at No. 3 singles. Nolde starts her activity against third-seeded Kellie Hierl of UW-La Crosse.
UW-Oshkosh's remaining individual participants at this weekend's championship are Alyssa Pattee in the second flight, Hannah Stitt in the fourth, Alessandra Rivera in the fifth and Jade Schwichow in the sixth.
Pattee and Stitt will represent the Titans in the second flight of doubles and Rivera and Schwichow in the third.