Related Links:
Final Results
WIAC Championship Web Page
Day 1 Recap
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis team tallied its 12th consecutive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and 19th overall Sunday as they finished the two-day WIAC Championship (Presented by Culver's) at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
The Warhawks swept the six singles positions and earned two of the three doubles titles to finish with 62 points, 10 more than runner-up UW-La Crosse and 15 ahead of third-place UW-Eau Claire.
The WIAC Championship accounts for two-thirds of the conference title. UW-Whitewater won all six of its league dual meets during the regular season to secure all seven points in the remaining third.
By claiming the conference championship, the Warhawks earned the right to host the four-team WIAC Team Tournament, which is scheduled for April 27. The winner of the tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, which begins May 10.
Senior
Gabi Kitchell (Wausau, Wis./D.C. Everest) picked up her third WIAC singles championship at the No. 1 position, recording back-to-back 6-0, 6-0 victories over UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire. Senior
Julie Martin (Morton, Ill./Morton) won a second-set tiebreaker in a 6-3, 7-6 (3) triumph over UW-La Crosse for her first career singles title at the second flight.
Sophomore
Sabrina Palavra (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) fought through a three-set match in the semifinals and registered a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the title match at No. 3 for her first singles championship. At No. 4, sophomore
Paige Nierman (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Stevenson) collected consecutive straight-set wins for her first title.
In their first-ever appearances at the WIAC Championship, junior
Madeline Slicker (Mequon, Wis./Homestead) and freshman
Jessica Minkov (Schiller Park, Ill./East Leyden) earned first place honors at the fifth and sixth draws, respectively. Slicker bested UW-La Crosse 6-2, 7-5 in her final, while Minkov surrendered only four games in two matches and downed UW-La Crosse in the first-place match.
Kitchell and Martin teamed up at No. 1 doubles, finishing their run with an 8-5 triumph over UW-Eau Claire. Palavra and Minkov took the top spot at the second flight with an identical 8-5 victory over UW-Eau Claire.
Nierman and sophomore
Allie Miller (Sturtevant, Wis./Union Grove) were outlasted in a tiebreaker at the No. 3 position against UW-La Crosse, falling 9-8 (6) to earn runner-up honors.
Slicker was named UW-Whitewater's representative on the WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
The Warhawks' spring season officially begins March 9 with dual matches against Division I opponents Northern Iowa and UW-Milwaukee. An alumni event is scheduled for Feb. 23 in Lake Geneva.
