WIAC Championship Website
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's tennis team is set to compete in the 2022 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) on Saturday-Sunday, October 22-23 at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.  The 51st gathering of league teams will be hosted by UW-La Crosse and decide three sets of doubles winners, along with six singles champions.

UW-Whitewater captured its 22nd team title in program history last fall with a team score of 21 points. UW-Eau Claire was second with 18 points while the Eagles were third with 15 points. 


The 2022-23 WIAC champion will be determined by using a combination of the regular-season dual-meet results and the conference championship standings. The finish in the regular-season dual-meet standings accounts for one-third of the criteria, while the WIAC Championship results accounts for the remaining two-thirds. Enter the number of points earned in each flight next with the corresponding total (1st place - 7 pts., 2nd place - 6 pts., etc). Add all nine flights together to get the total championship points. Then determine the championship team place and points multiplied by 2 (1st place - 14 pts., 2nd place - 12 pts., etc.).

The top four teams (in the overall standings) will participate in a team tournament on April 29, 2023, to determine the conference's automatic qualifier into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship.The team tournament will be held at the site of the overall conference champion prior to the NCAA championship next spring.

Point distribution following the dual-meet rotation consists of: UW-Whitewater (6-0) (7 points); UW-Eau Claire (5-1) (6 points); UW-La Crosse (4-2) (5 points); UW-Stevens Point (3-3) (4 points); UW-Oshkosh (2-4) (3 points); UW-River Falls (1-5) (2 points); and UW-Stout (0-6) (1 point).

The initial day of competition at the conference event, which begins at 1 p.m., will consist of the first two rounds of doubles matches followed by the first round of singles matches. The second day of the championship commences at 9 a.m. and will feature the final two rounds of singles contests followed by the last round of doubles matches.

The Eagles are 36-19 (.655) in singles matches this season and 19-11 (.633) in doubles. Kellie Hierl is 4-3 at No. 1 singles, 3-3 in WIAC action. Hierl will be the #3 seed in this weekend's championship and will play #6 seed Lauren Couves of UW-Stout in the first round. Susi Hu is 3-3 at No.2 singles and will be the #4 seed. Hu will face #5 seed Ellie Becker of UW-Stout in her first match. 

UWL's Katie Kearney is the #2 seed this weekend at No. 3 singles and is 6-1 on the year. Kearney will face #7 seed Kyrstin Hanson of UW-Stout in her first match. Ani Bulbulian is 3-4 at No. 4 singles and is the #5 seed where she will face #4 Cordelia Damkot of UW-Oshkosh. Kate Townsend is 8-1 this year and seeded second at No. 5 singles while Emma Heinert is 10-1 and also seeded second at No. 6 singles for the WIAC Championships. Townsend will face Madeline Binczak of UW-Stout while Heinert plays Grace Aerts of UW-River Falls. 

In doubles, Hierl/Kearney are 3-3 at No.1 in 2022 and are the #3 seed where they will face #6 seed Couves/Becker. At No. 2 doubles, Hu/Bulbulian are 2-3 on the year and will be the #4 seed. Hu/Bulbulian will face #5 seed Courtney Carpenter/Jenna Nolde of UW-Oshkosh. Townsend/Izzy Schmeising are 8-2 at No. 3 doubles and will be the #3 seed where they will face #6 seed Kylie Rennie/Ashlyn Dellemann of UW-Stout. 

Bill Hehli is in his 28th season as head coach of the UW-La Crosse women's and men's teams. Inducted into the UWL Wall of Fame in 2017, Hehli has compiled a career dual record of 775-351 (.688) at the helm of the Eagles. He is 436-145 (.750) with the women's team and 339-206 (.622) with the men's squad. Hehli is the all-time wins leader in WIAC women's tennis history.