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The No. 34 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis team looks to reach the NCAA Championship round (national quarterfinals) for the first time in program history starting this weekend as it hosts the first, second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
 
UW-Whitewater will open NCAA play Friday at 9 a.m. against Concordia Wisconsin at Premier Tennis and Fitness in Janesville, Wis. The winner of that contest will face the winner of the No. 24 Gustavus Adolphus/St. Scholastica match on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
 
The winner of Saturday's match will face the winner of the No. 10 Chicago/Grinnell/Coe side of the bracket in Sunday's regional championship match at 12 p.m.

All of Friday's matches are scheduled to be played at Premier Tennis and Fitness in Janesville, with Saturday's and Sunday's matches to be played at Wangerin Courts on the UW-Whitewater campus.
 
The Warhawks (19-6 overall) secured their 11th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship and Team Tournament for the 11th consecutive season.
 
UW-Whitewater finished its fall campaign with a 9-0 record in dual matches, including a perfect 6-0 mark in WIAC duals. Much of the team's success can be attributed to the depth in the lineup and a strong senior class.
 
Seniors Bridgid McGuire (Slinger/Slinger) and Jillian Wallace (Crystal Lake, IL/Central) clinched All-America honors in the fall by winning the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional doubles championship. The duo went on to compete at the ITA Oracle Cup in Rome, Ga., placing seventh in Division III doubles.
 
After another strong spring season, McGuire and Wallace enter the NCAA Team Tournament as the No. 1 pair in the Central Region as ranked by the ITA and own a 34-4 record playing together, including 20 straight wins. McGuire is the only four-time doubles All-American in program history, while Wallace is the only player in the school record book to win a combined eight WIAC singles and doubles titles and is the third to reach 200 combined singles and doubles wins.
 
Senior Alexandra Talyansky (Mequon/Homestead) and junior Gabi Kitchell (Wausau, Wis./D.C. Everest) are set to combine as the No. 2 doubles team. The duo is 11-4 playing together since Kitchell returned to the team for the spring season, and is pairing together for the second time at an NCAA Tournament after winning two matches at the third position in 2016. Talyansky earned her 100th career doubles win at the WIAC Team Tournament, and Kitchell was a doubles All-American in 2016 after winning the ITA Midwest Regional.
 
Freshmen Paige Nierman (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Stevenson) and Sabrina Palavra (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) will play at the No. 3 slot and will each make their first NCAA appearance. They are 12-4 playing together this season and reached the Round of 16 in doubles at the ITA Midwest Regional in the fall.
 
Kitchell will play the No. 1 singles position. Ranked sixth in the Central Region by the ITA, Kitchell is 13-3 this season, including 11 wins playing from the No. 1 position. She qualified for the NCAA Singles Tournament as a freshman in the spring of 2016 and was named the ITA Central Region Women's Rookie of the Year.
 
Talyansky and McGuire enter the NCAA Tournament at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. Talyansky, ranked 17th in the region, is one singles win shy of 100 for her career and is 26-7 for the season, including a 9-4 mark at No. 2. McGuire owns 18 singles wins, including eight in the third slot.
 
At No. 4 singles, Wallace begins tournament play with a 20-8 record. Junior Julie Martin (Morton, Ill./Morton), who will play in her first NCAA match with the team, is 16-8 heading into her match at No. 5, and Nierman enters the postseason on a six-match winning streak and will compete in the sixth position.
 
Concordia Wisconsin (20-5) won its third consecutive Northern Athletics Conference Tournament championship to qualify for the national tournament. The Falcons are led by NACC Player of the Year Ashley Solberg, who is 19-7 competing primarily at the No. 1 position.
 
The Warhawks are 5-0 all time against the Falcons. The last match between the two teams occurred on April 23, 2012, a 9-0 UW-Whitewater win at Wangerin Courts.
 
UW-Whitewater last faced St. Scholastica on May 12, 2016, in a first-round NCAA Tournament contest, defeating the Saints 5-1. The Warhawks are 4-10 all time against Gustavus Adolphus, falling 5-4 in a dual match back on March 10.
 
UW-Whitewater is 4-3 against Coe, and has won each of the last four matches in the series. The team is 2-0 against Grinnell all time and 2-13 against Chicago, including a 7-2 setback on April 15 at Premier Tennis and Fitness in Janesville.
 
See below for a complete match schedule for the weekend.

Friday, May 11 (Premier Tennis and Fitness, Janesville):
Match 1 – UW-Whitewater vs. Concordia Wisconsin, 9 a.m.
Match 2 – Gustavus Adolphus vs. St. Scholastica, 12 p.m.
Match 3 – Grinnell vs. Coe, 3 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 12 (Wangerin Courts, Whitewater):
Match 4 – Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2, 11:30 a.m.
Match 5 – Winner of Match 3 vs. Chicago, 3 p.m.
 
Sunday, May 13 (Wangerin Courts, Whitewater):
Match 6 – Winner of Match 4 vs. Winner of Match 5, 12 p.m.