Related Links:
2021 WIAC Women's Tennis Championship Web Page
 
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis team begins its quest for a 15th consecutive conference title this Saturday at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship presented by Culver's at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
 
Competition begins Saturday at 1 p.m. with the first two rounds of doubles matches and the first round of singles matches. Play continues Sunday at 9 a.m. with the final two rounds of singles and the final round of doubles.
 
The Warhawks enter the league tournament with a 10-0 record in dual matches, including a 6-0 mark in league play. UW-W has won 115 consecutive dual matches against WIAC opponents.
 
UW-Whitewater enters the conference tournament with seven points thanks to a first-place finish in the regular season standings, which account for one-third of the championship criteria. The other two-thirds are determined by results from the WIAC Championship.
 
Autumn Bruno (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield Whitnall) will play as the No. 2 seed in the first singles bracket. She enters the tournament with a 10-5 record in singles play, and was a singles semifinalist at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional.  Bruno will face No. 7 seed Kailey Courteau of UW-River Falls in her first match.
 
Cassie Lee (Downers Grove, Ill./Timothy Christian) will represent the Warhawks in the second singles bracket. She is 13-3, including a 4-0 record against conference foes, entering the weekend. Lee reached the fourth round in singles at the ITA Midwest Regional. The No. 1 seed in the bracket, Lee has earned a first-round bye and will face the winner of the match against Faith Leithold of UW-Stevens Point and Alexis Budzinski of UW-River Falls in the semifinals.
 
At No. 3 singles, Gianna Nikoleit (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) will compete as the flight's top seed. She currently leads the team in singles wins with a 16-2 record, including a 6-0 clip against WIAC opponents. Nikoleit, who also reached the fourth round at the ITA Midwest Regional, will face the winner of UW-Stevens Point's Jenna Koepp and UW-Stout's Ellie Becker in the semifinals.
 
Olivia Kraft (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) seeks her second career individual singles title, and will represent the Warhawks in the fourth bracket. Kraft enters the tournament with a 6-3 singles record, including a 3-0 mark against conference foes. The No. 2 seed, Kraft will begin play against Hannah Stitt of UW-Oshkosh.
 
Kellie Ha (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) and Courtney Day (Oshkosh, Wis./North) will compete as the top seeds in the Nos. 5 and 6 brackets, respectively. Ha finished the fall regular season with a 6-4 record (3-1 WIAC), while Day posted a 7-3 mark, including a 4-0 record in conference duals. Both Ha and Day seek their first career singles titles and have earned byes to the semifinals.
 
Bruno and Lee will compete in the No. 1 doubles bracket for UW-Whitewater. The duo earned All-America honors by winning the ITA Midwest Regional doubles championship and played last week at the ITA Cup in Rome, Ga. Bruno and Lee, who are 9-7 playing together entering the weekend, are the No. 3 seed in the bracket and will face sixth-seeded Michelle Spicer and Jenna Nolde of UW-Oshkosh.
 
Kraft and Ha are the No. 2 seed at the second doubles flight. The duo leads the team in doubles wins with an 11-3 record through the end of the fall regular season. Kraft earned first team All-WIAC accolades at No. 2 doubles last spring and was a conference doubles champion at No. 3 in 2019. Kraft and Ha will face seventh-seeded Alysa Pattee and Hannah Stitt of UW-Oshkosh to start play.
 
Day and Molly Rueth (Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard West) will play in the No. 3 bracket for the Warhawks. The pair is 10-5 playing together this fall, including a 3-1 conference record. Day and Rueth are the top seed in the flight and have earned a bye to the semifinals.
 
The top four teams in the standings following this weekend's WIAC Championship will play in a four-team tournament this spring to determine the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament, which takes place in May.