Titans To Compete At WIAC Tennis Championship

UW-Whitewater will strive for an eighth consecutive first-place finish at the 2014 WIAC Women's Tennis Championship that will be conducted Oct. 25-26 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. The 43rd meeting of league teams will also decide six singles champions and three sets of doubles winners.

The Warhawks claimed the 14th conference title in program history a season ago with 21 overall points to exceed UW-La Crosse's second-place total of 18 points. UW-Eau Claire placed third with 15 points, UW-Oshkosh fourth with 11, UW-Stevens Point fifth with 10, UW-River Falls sixth with 5 and UW-Stout seventh with 4.

The 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 accounts for the remaining two-thirds.

Point distribution following the dual-meet rotation included: UW-Whitewater (6-0) (7 points); UW-La Crosse (5-1) (6 points); UW-Eau Claire (4-2) (5 points); UW-Oshkosh (3-3) (4 points); UW-Stevens Point (2-4) (3 points); UW-River Falls (1-5) (2 points) and UW-Stout (0-6) (1 point).

The initial day of competition at the conference event will consist of the first two rounds of doubles matches followed by the first round of singles matches. The second day of the championship will feature the final two rounds of singles matches followed by the last round of doubles matches.

The top four teams (following the conclusion of the WIAC championship) will advance to a team tournament that will determine the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Championship. The team tournament will be held at the site of the overall conference champion prior to the NCAA championship next spring.

Individually, UW-Whitewater sophomore Megan Humphreys is the defending champion at No. 3 singles and will compete at No. 1 singles this season. She earned a runner-up finish in the Division III singles draw at the prestigious U.S. Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships earlier this fall.

UW-Whitewater sophomore Amy Upthagrove secured the No. 5 singles crown last year, while UW-La Crosse juniors Bryanne Blanton and Kimmy Mrozek teamed to win the No. 2 doubles title in 2013.

Also producing consistent performances for their squads this fall have been: UW-Eau Claire seniors Maddie Johnson and Madison Rossebo, junior Colleen McCullough and freshman Sarah Henderson; UW-La Crosse juniors Jennifer Graham and Kendra Woyahn, along with freshman Bridget Bellissimo; UW-Oshkosh senior Hannah Bostwick and freshman Bailey Sagen; UW-River Falls sophomores Anna Ebensperger and Kayla Rosenow; UW-Stevens Point freshmen Hannah Dexheimer and Erin Lemmer; UW-Stout sophomore Danielle Lutz; and UW-Whitewater freshmen Alicia Beck, Bridgid McGuire and Alexandra Talyansky.