Gibbs and Gregory Take Second at WIAC Championship

MADISON, Wis.- Kayla Gibbs and Jameson Gregory led the UW-Oshkosh women's tennis team at the 2023 WIAC Tennis Championship on Sunday (Oct. 22) in the No. 2 doubles competition.

The Titans, who finished fourth in the regular season standings with four points from their six league dual matches (3-3), added another eight points in the final rounds of play on Sunday in Madison for 12 overall championship points.

UW-Whitewater won its 17th-straight conference title with 21 points. UW-Eau Claire followed in second with 18 and UW-La Crosse took third with 15. Finishing behind Oshkosh was UW-Stevens Point with nine points, UW-River Falls with five points and UW-Stout with four points.

Gibbs (Fr. • Muskego) and Gregory (Fr. • Delevan) started on a bye in the first round before defeating Grace Henes and Brooklynn Steier from Stevens Point 8-7 in the second round. They then went on to face Anna Lee and Liv Herzog of Eau Claire in the championship round, however were defeated 8-1.

Olivia Pethan (Fr. • Oshkosh) and Alysa Pattee (Jr. • Waupun) both placed fifth in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. Pethan was defeated by Tristin Jantz (Stevens Point) in the first round and received a bye in the second round. Pethan went on to win against Chloe Struss (River Falls) 6-0, 6-1 for fifth place. Pattee fell in the first round to Quinlyn Mack (Stevens Point) 6-4, 6-2, and received a bye in the second round. Pattee defeated Sydney Wiener (River Falls) 6-4, 6-3 in the fifth-place match.

Ella Nguyen (So. • Oshkosh), Gregory, Gibbs, and Hannah Stitt (Sr. • Baldwin) all placed fourth in their respective singles brackets.

In the No. 3 singles match, Nguyen defeated Jordan Scharf (Stevens Point) in the first round 2-6, 7-5, 10-3, but was beat by Anna Lee (Eau Claire) 6-0, 6-2 in the second round. In the third-place match, Nguyen was downed by Shelby Roth (La Crosse) 6-2, 6-1.

Gregory defeated Ella Lamppa (Stout) 2-6, 6-1, 10-4 in the first round of the No. 4 match, but lost to Molly Asfeld (Whitewater) 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. She also dropped the third-place match to Sydney Presler (Eau Claire) 6-0, 6-1.

In the No. 5 singles, Gibbs defeated Brooklynn Steier (Stevens Point) 6-4, 6-4, but dropped the second round match to Liz Herzog (Eau Claire) 6-2, 6-0. Kate Townsend (La Crosse) defeated Gibbs 6-2, 6-2 in the third-place match.

In the No. 6 singles, Stitt won the first-round match against Henes (Stevens Point) 6-4, 7-5 before dropping the second-round and third-place matches to Mackenzie Lindow (Whitewater) and Morgan Dekan (Eau Claire).

In the doubles matches, both Pattee and Pethan and Courtney Carpenter (So. • Oshkosh) and Nguyen took home fifth place in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.

Pattee and Pethan fell to Jantz and Scharf (Stevens Point) 8-6 in the first round and received a bye in the second round. They then defeated Grace Aerts and Wiener (River Falls) 8-0 for the fifth-place position.

Carpenter and Nguyen fell to Mack and Leithhold (Stevens Point) 8-6 in the first round and also received a bye in the second round. Winning fifth place, the pair defeated Ashlyn Dellemann and Lexie Stein (Stevens Point) 8-0.

Pattee was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team at the event.

The Titans will own the No. 4 seed at the 2023-24 WIAC team tournament, hosted by No. 1 seed UW-Whitewater. UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse will join the Titans and Warhawks in Whitewater on April 27, 2024. The winner of the team tournament will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Written by Emily Buffington, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information