Related Links:
NCAA Whitewater Regional Web Page
NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Web Page
The No. 36 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's tennis team will face Illinois Tech Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Warhawk Outdoor Tennis Complex in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
Thursday's match kicks off the three-day NCAA Whitewater Regional, which includes Carleton (Minn.), No. 1 Chicago, No. 35 Grinnell (Iowa), Illinois Tech, Luther (Iowa), Northwestern (Minn.) and No. 36 UW-Whitewater.
The winner of the seven-team regional will head to the NCAA Division III Championship, which is scheduled for May 23-25 in Orlando, Fla.
The Warhawks (19-4 overall) claimed their 14th straight bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Team Tournament on April 30, defeating UW-Stevens Point and UW-Eau Claire to punch their ticket to the regional.
All-Americans
Autumn Bruno (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield Whitnall) and
Cassie Lee (Downers Grove, Ill./Timothy Christian) lead UW-Whitewater heading into the national tournament. The duo won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional doubles title in the fall and is 16-12 playing together this season, including a 4-1 mark playing against regionally ranked opponents. They are ranked 11th in the region by the ITA.
Bruno, an ITA regional singles semifinalist and the WIAC runner-up at No. 1 singles, is 20-11 entering the week. Lee ranks second on the team in singles wins with a 23-6 record, including a 13-3 mark playing at the second position.
At No. 3 singles,
Gianna Nikoleit (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) leads the team in victories with a 26-6 record. She finished as runner-up at the second singles flight at the WIAC Championship in October.
Bethany Marshall (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove),
Kellie Ha (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) and
Molly Rueth (Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard West) round out UW-W's singles lineup. Marshall is 10-5 for the season, including 6-3 at the No. 4 slot, while Ha has played at four different positions in the lineup and is 14-8 for the year. Rueth owns a 9-8 record playing primarily at No. 6.
Rueth and Ha will play at the No. 2 doubles spot, bringing an 8-6 record playing together into the tournament. Marshall and
Courtney Day (Oshkosh, Wis./North), the team's No. 3 doubles squad, are 6-6 as a duo.
Illinois Tech (16-5) won the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) championship last week with a 5-1 victory against Edgewood in the title match.
The Warhawks and Scarlet Hawks met during the regular season on Sept. 1 in Whitewater. UW-W claimed all three doubles slots and dropped only one set in singles play on its way to a 9-0 triumph.
UW-Whitewater reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last spring and has advanced past the first round in 12 of its last 13 national appearances. The team advanced to the Round of 16 in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
