Friday, May 9
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis season came to an end Friday with a 5-1 loss to DePauw University in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship Tournament at the Tao Tennis Center in St. Louis.  UW-W, ranked twenty-fifth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, ended the season 21-6.  DePauw, 19-4 and eleventh in the national poll, advances to face host Washington University-St. Louis, ranked ninth by the ITA, Saturday.   Washington defeated Grinnell College 5-0 in Friday's other regional semifinal.

box score

UW-Whitewater's championship website

DePauw scored its first point with a win at two doubles.  Meg Crowley and Claire Marshall, the fifteenth ranked duo in the ITA Central Region, defeated Megan Humphreys (Kenosha/Tremper) and Amy Upthagrove (Muskego/Muskego) of UW-W 8-4.  DU made it 2-0 with a victory at three doubles, with Kaitlin Pickrel and Julie Wittwer topping Whitewater's Jessica Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park) and Erika Williams (Burnsville, MN/Lakeville South), 8-6.  Alexandra Bayliss (Sheboygan/North) and Jackie Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park), ranked sixth in the Central Region, cut the DePauw lead to 2-1 with an 8-6 win over the second ranked duo in the region, Caroline Emhardt and Maggie MacPhail.  Bayliss and Vitale ended the year 23-9.

DePauw regained the momentum with wins at flights six and five of singles.  Emhardt defeated Upthagrove 6-3, 6-4 after Upthagrove had closed to within 5-4 at five, and Wittwer stopped Jessica Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park) 6-1, 6-0 at six.  MacPhail, ninth in the Central Region, topped Bayliss, ranked second, 6-3, 6-3 at one singles in the clinching match. 

Since NCAA tournament play ends when majority is achieved the remaining three singles flights were not completed.  Megan Humphreys (Kenosha/Tremper) had split her first two sets at two singles and led 3-0 in the third, at flight three Jackie Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park) lost 6-4 in her first set but was tied 5-5 in the second, and Erika Williams (Burnsville, MN/Lakeville South) fell 7-5 in her first set at four singles but was tied 5-5 in the next.

UW-W and DePauw met earlier this season, with DePauw winning 5-4 March 24 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  DePauw holds a 17-2 series advantage over UW-W.

UW-Whitewater, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion the last seven years, was making its seventh consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.  The Warhawks advanced to the sweet sixteen in the tournament in both 2012 and 2013.

The season is not over, however, for Whitewater's Alexandra Bayliss (Sheboygan/North).  Announced earlier this week, Bayliss has earned a berth in the NCAA III Women's Tennis Individual Championship which will begin play May 22 in Claremont, California.  Bayliss will be making her first appearance in singles play, but she teamed with Kalla Schaefer to earn a doubles spot in 2012.

Thursday, May 8
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater shut out Edgewood College 6-0 to advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship at the Tao Tennis Center in St. Louis, Missouri Thursday.  UW-W, 21-5 and ranked twenty-fifth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III poll, will face DePauw University, 18-4 and eleventh in the ITA poll, at the Tao Center Friday at 12:00. Click here to view the UW-Whitewater Championship Website.

box score

UW-W opened play Friday by capturing all three doubles matches.  Erika Williams (Burnsville, MN/Lakeville South) and Jessica Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park), upped their record to 9-4 with an 8-1 win over the first time pairing of Kristen Boone and Ellie Wilkie at three doubles.  Amy Upthagrove (Muskego/Muskego) and Abby Day (Hartford/Hartford), playing together for just the third time this season, upped their mark to 3-0 with an 8-2 win over Brooke McBain and Laura Olsen, and Alexandra Bayliss (Sheboygan/North) and Jackie Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park), 22-9, defeated Anna Miles and Morgan Wilson at one doubles, 8-3, to give UW-W a 3-0 lead.

Upthagrove, 25-6, extended Whitewater's margin to 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Edgewood's Olsen at four singles.  Day clinched the team win with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Boone at six singles to raise her record to 20-3, and moments later Jackie Vitale (Roselle, IL/Lake Park), 22-9, ended the scoring with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Miles.  Although there are nine flights scheduled in each match competition ends when a team has secured the victory. 

UW-W swept Edgewood twice this season, also winning the season opener 9-0 August 30 in Whitewater.

UW-Whitewater is making its seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA III tournament.  The Warhawks, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions the last seven years, have never lost a NCAA first round match, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2012 and 2013.  The final four teams will advance to the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, California May 20-21.

UW-W and DePauw met earlier this spring, with DU winning 5-4 March 24 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

In other first round action in St. Louis Thursday Grinnell College defeated Coe College 5-0. Grinnell will face host Washington University, which had a first round bye, Friday.  The Whitewater-DePauw winner will face the Grinnell-Washington winner in the regional final, and national quarterfinal, Saturday in St. Louis.


TF/ak