The UW-Whitewater women's tennis team advanced to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Division III championship tournament with a 5-1 win over Washington University of Saint Louis in Chicago, Illinois Saturday.  UW-W, 23-4, will face the winner of the other regional match being played in Chicago Saturday, with the host University of Chicago, 19-4, playing Carleton College, 19-5.  UW-W, playing in its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament, will be making its second appearance in the sweet sixteen.

Photo gallery (courtesy of Dave Hilbert)

UW-Whitewater 5, Washington University in Saint Louis 1
singles
1.  Natalie Tingir, WU, defeated Kalla Schaefer (Madison/Madison Memorial), WW, 6-3, 6-3
2.  Sydney Divelbiss (Middleton/Middleton), WW, and Kate Klein, WU, 6-7 (6), 0-4, did not finish
3.  Annie Smith (Algonquin, IL/H.D. Jacobs), WW, and Theresa Petraskova, WU, 6-3, 3-6, 2-4. did not finish
4.  Alexandra Bayliss (Sheboygan/North), WW, defeated Paige Madora, WU, 7-5, 6-3
5.  Megan Kasten (Verona/Verona), WW, defeated Betsy Edershile, WU, 6-4, 6-4
6.  Jackie Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park), WW, and Corinne Rauck, WU, 3-3, did not finish
doubles
1.  Schaefer/Bayliss, WW, defeated Kelin/Rauck, WU, 9-8 (4)
2.  Divelbiss/Smith, WW, defeated Tingir/Petraskova, WU, 8-4
3.  Kasten/Lauren Aguilar (Gurnee, IL/Carmel Catholic ), WW, defeated  Madara/Edershile, WU, 8-5

Doubles are played first, so UW-W jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  Schaefer and Bayliss improved to 24-10 in flight one play, Smith and Divelbiss are 23-4, and Kasten and Aguilar upped their mark at three doubles to 18-2.

In singles play Kasten continues her narrow lead for the best winning percentage on the team at 26-3, followed closely by Bayliss at 25-3 and Schaefer's loss gives her a 26-6 record at the top flight.

Although nine flights compete, the match is only played until the winning team has won a majority (five).

UW-W and Washington met earlier this spring, with the Bears winning 5-4 at the Midwest Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.  Whitewater defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA tourney in Chicago Friday.

Sunday's winner will join seven other regional winners for the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship match May 21-23 at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina.  The finals will be hosted by Meredith College and the Town of Cary.

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