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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis team enters the 2019-20 season with its sights set on a 13th straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Warhawks claimed consecutive conference title No. 12 last season and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, finishing the campaign with a 13-12 record and the No. 38 spot in the final Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings.
 
UW-Whitewater kicks off the new season this Friday at home against UW-Oshkosh. The team continues play at Wangerin Courts Saturday with the annual eight-team Warhawk Invite, which includes three other conference rivals and four regional foes.
 
The Warhawks host UW-River Falls and Illinois Tech on Sept. 8, then head west for a critical two-match swing at UW-Eau Claire (Sept. 13) and UW-La Crosse (Sept. 14).
 
UW-Whitewater plays in the ITA Midwest Regional at Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) on Sept. 20-23. After visiting UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 1, the team hosts the five-team Warhawk Fall Invitational, which includes four scholarship teams, on Oct. 4-5.
 
The Warhawks host UW-Stout and defending Midwest Conference champion Lake Forest (Ill.) on Oct. 12, then visit Bethel (Minn.) on Oct. 19 for their final tune-up prior to the WIAC Championship, which is slated for Oct. 26-27 in Madison.
 
After a full spring slate that starts March 7, the WIAC Team Tournament, which determines the league's automatic NCAA qualifier, is set for April 25. The NCAA Tournament is scheduled for May 8-10 (first three rounds) and May 18-20 with the final three rounds in St. Louis. The NCAA Individual Championships take place May 21-23 in St. Louis.
 
UW-Whitewater returns all but two players from last season's regular lineup.
 
Madeline Slicker (Mequon, Wis./Homestead) is the team's lone senior. Slicker claimed the WIAC title at No. 5 singles last fall and finished with 11 singles wins. She enters her second year as a team captain.
 
Juniors Paige Nierman (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Stevenson), Sabrina Palavra (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) and Katie Toomire (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs) also return to round out the Warhawks' veteran core.
 
Nierman and Palavra each look to provide leadership as lineup mainstays over the last two years. Palavra, who will serve as co-captain with Slicker, claimed conference titles at No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles a year ago, earning 17 singles victories, third-most on the team. Nierman claimed 14 doubles wins and was a league champion at No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles.
 
Toomire collected a combined 12 wins in singles and doubles last fall, claiming the Flight F singles title at last season's Warhawk Fall Invite.
 
Six players form the team's sophomore class – Bryce Bigelow (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper), Madalyn Bigelow (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper), Elsie Ha (Palatine, Ill./Fremd), Olivia Kraft (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community), Jessica Minkov (Schiller Park, Ill./East Leyden) and Molly Rueth (Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard West).
 
Minkov registered WIAC championships at both No. 2 doubles and No. 6 singles, finishing with a combined 17 singles and doubles wins last season.
 
Ha, a singles specialist, finished with 11 singles wins in 2018-19. Kraft and Rueth competed primarily in doubles, with Rueth posting 18 doubles victories, good for third on the team, and Kraft tallying 13 doubles wins.
 
Madalyn Bigelow (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) recorded 10 combined singles and doubles victories, and Bryce Bigelow (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) contributed nine.
 
Head coach Frank Barnes, who enters his 17th season at the helm and is an eight-time WIAC Coach of the Year, will look to four freshmen to help solidify the lineup. Newcomers to the program include Courtney Day (Oshkosh, Wis./North), MacKenzie Lindow (East Troy, Wis./East Troy), Bethany Marshall (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) and Megan Setter (Kenosha, Wis./St. Joseph Catholic Academy).