May 27, 2011
Mitch Osborne (Crystal Lake, IL/Central) and Byron Balkin (Madison/Memorial) lost their first round match in the NCAA DIII doubles championship Friday in Calremont, California at the hands of Parker Larsen and Brian Pybas of UC Santa Cruz 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6.  The duo concludes their season with a record of 26-5 at number one doubles and is tied for the second most wins at the one doubles spot in school history.  The all-time leaders in wins at number one doubles are Eric Arvold and Jim Winkler with 31 (31-8; 1986).

Osborne and Balkin, ranked fourth in the Central Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, battled against the number one ranked team in the West Region.  The match went back and forth throughout but the Santa Cruz pair came back from a 5-2 deficit in the third set to take the victory.

The loss ends competition for the men's tennis team this season.  The Warhawks also competed in the NCAA DIII team tournament last week and advanced all the way to the regional final before falling to Washington University (Mo.) 5-1.

Larsen and Pybas advance to take on Oscar Pena and Stephen Sullivan of Bowdoin who won their first round match 6-1, 6-3 against Robert Kjelberg and Antti Saari of North Carolina Wesleyan.

May 26, 2011
Balkin and Osborne will compete in their first match of the single-elimination tournament on Friday, May 27 at 4:00 pm against Parker Larsen and Brian Pybas of UC Santa Cruz. Pybas was a part of the National Championship doubles team in 2010.

Live Scoring: http://www.pe.pomona.edu/NCAA/livescoring
Live Video Streaming: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule

May 22, 2011
The UW-Whitewater doubles team of Byron Balkin (Madison/Memorial) and Mitch Osborne (Crystal Lake, IL/Central) have received a bid to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III individual championship in Claremont, California May 24-26.  This marks the first time since 1986 that UW-W has had a participant in the individual portion of the NCAA III men's tennis championship.  The Warhawk men have qualified the last four years in a row for the team championship, and will begin play Friday against Westminster College (MO) in the Saint Louis Regional.

Animoto Video (A Championship Weekend)

The NCAA Division III individual championship field is composed of 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams.  UW-Whitewater is the only school in Wisconsin to earn a spot in the tournament. 

Balkin and Osborne, playing at flight one for the Warhawks, have compiled a 26-4 record.  The total of 25 victories is fourth best ever at number one. 

Balkin, 26-7 in singles play, and Osborne, 16-9 in singles, will also play key roles in Whitewater's NCAA team competition.  Balkin, with a total of 50 wins, combining singles and doubles, is tied for the third highest single season victory total in UW-W men's tennis history. 

Technically, UW-W had a doubles team in national competition earlier this school year.  The duo of Jake Macey and Erik Scanlan (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) qualified for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III national meet last fall by winning the ITA regional.  However, the last time UW-W was represented in the NCAA III singles and doubles championship was 1986, when the team of Eric Arvold and Jim Winkler earned All-America honors by advancing to the semifinals. 

The Warhawks' only other national tournament participation came in 1966, well before UW-W affiliated with the NCAA.  Reiny Maier went 2-1, Pete Mueller 1-1, and Maier teamed up with Bill Kringle to go 1-1 in doubles at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship.

The 2010 NCAA III singles champion was John Watts of Washington University-Saint Louis, but he is not in this year's field.  Brian Pybas and Marc Vartabedian of California-Santa Cruz won the doubles title last spring, and Pybas is back with a new partner, Parker Larson.  Middlebury College won the team championship.

For additional information:  Frank Barnes, UW-W tennis coordinator