Madison, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's tennis team completed first day action in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) Saturday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The championships resume Sunday, October 23 at 9 a.m. The 51st meeting of league teams will also decide six singles champions and three sets of doubles winners.
This year's team title will be determined by using a combination of the regular-season dual-meet standings and the WIAC championship results. The finish in the regular-season standings accounts for one-third of the criteria, while the conference championship accounts for the remaining two-thirds.
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-Stout (2-4) (3 points); UW-River Falls (1-5) (2 points); and UW-Oshkosh (0-6) (1 point).
Five of the six UW-La Crosse players in the singles bracket advanced to Sunday's second round.
At No.1 singles, #3 seed
Kellie Hierl defeated #6 seed Lauren Couves of UW-Stout 6-4, 6-1. Hierl will face #2 seed Clare Palen of UW-Eau Claire in the second round.
Susi Hu, the #4 seed at No.2 singles, defeated #5 seed Ellie Becker of UW-Stout 6-2, 6-3. Hu faces #1 seed Gianna Nikoleit of UW-Whitewater on Sunday.
At No. 3 singles, #2 seed
Katie Kearney defeated #7 seed Kyrstin Hanson (UW-Stout) 6-0, 6-1 and advances to play #3 seed Morgan Nelson in the second round. Then at No. 4 singles, #4 seed Cordelia Damkot of UW-Oshkosh defeated #5
Ani Bulbulian 7-5, 6-0.
Kate Townsend, the #2 seed at No. 5 singles, defeated #7 seed Madeline Binczak (UW-Stout) 6-0, 6-0. Townsend advances to play #3 seed Maya Kunze of UW-Stevens Point. Then at No. 6 singles, #2 seed
Emma Heinert defeated #7 seed Grace Aerts (UW-River Falls) 6-0, 6-0. Heinert will not play #3 seed Sydney Presler of UW-Eau Claire.
In doubles play, the Eagles No.1 team of Hierl and Kearney lost to Couves/Becker of UW-Stout 8-7 (9-7). In the second round, Hierl/Kearney defeated Alexis Budzinski/Chloe Struss of UW-River Falls 8-0. Hierl/Kearney will face Alysa Pattee/Alexandra Schmoldt (UW-Oshkosh) in the fifth place match on Sunday.
At No. 2 doubles, Hu/Bulbulian defeated Courtney Carpenter/Jenna Nolde (UW-Oshkosh) 8-2. In the second round, Hu/Bulbulian fell to Kasey Schlicht/Kellie Ha 8-1 and will face Barbara Covek/Jenna Koepp (UW-Stevens Point) in the third place match on Sunday.
Then at No. 3 doubles, Townsend/Izzy Schmeising defeated Kylie Rennie/Ashlyn Dellemann (UW-Stout) 8-2. Morgan Dekan/Sydney Presler (UW-Eau Claire) then defeated Townsend/Schmeising 8-6 in the second round. In the third place match on Sunday, Townsend/Schmeising will face Chloe Leithold/Grace Henes (UW-Stevens Point).
