Madison, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's tennis team placed second at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) Sunday afternoon at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The Eagles finished with 18 team points while UW-Whitewater won the conference crown with 20. UW-Eau Claire placed third with 16 and UW-Stevens Point fourth with 11.
UW-Oshkosh placed fifth (10 points) followed by UW-River Falls (6) and UW-Stout (3).
The team title was 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.
UW-Whitewater, UWL, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point advance to the team tournament in the spring to determine the conference's automatic qualifier for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship. UW-Whitewater will host the four-team event on April 26, 2025.
UWL won a pair of singles titles on Sunday, including
Shelby Roth at No. 2 and
Hannah Cady at No. 6.
Roth, the tournament's second-seed, defeated top-seed Anna Lee of UW-Eau Claire (6-2, 6-4) in Sunday's title match in the No. 2 singles flight. She earned a victory (6-0, 6-0) over seventh-seeded Aspen Johnson of UW-Stout in the first round and third-seeded Molly Asfeld of UW-Whitewater (6-2, 6-4) in the second round. It is Roth's first career All-WIAC honor.
Cady, the top-seed at No. 6 singles, defeated second-seeded Crystina Lee of UW-Whitewater (3-6, 6-4, 10-2) for the title. She received a first-round bye and beat fifth-seeded Courtney Carpenter of UW-Oshkosh (6-1, 6-2) in the second round. Cady finished second at No. 4 singles in 2023.
Three players,
Lauren Lindow,
Maia Samuelson and
Emma Heinert, placed second in singles on Sunday. Lindow was second at No. 3 singles after entering the tournament as the top-seed. She fell (6-1, 7-5) to second-seeded Abby Weaver of UW-Whitewater for the title. Lindow had a first round bye on Saturday and defeated fifth-seeded Brooklyn Steier of UW-Stevens Point (6-1, 6-0) in the second round.
Seeded-second at No. 4 singles, Samuelson lost the championship match (6-4, 6-3) to UW-Whitewater's Alex Repplier, the tournament's top-seed. Samuelson won her opening match (6-1, 6-0) over seventh-seeded Odessa Barreyro of UW-Stout and third-seeded Liv Herzog of UW-Eau Claire (6-3, 2-6, 10-3) in the second round.
Heinert was second at No. 5 singles. She fell in the title match (6-4, 6-0) to top-seed Sarah Ferguson of UW-Whitewater. The third-seed, Heinert defeated sixth-seeded Grace Aerts of UW-River Falls (6-1, 6-0) in the first round and second-seeded Reese Burton of UW-Eau Claire (6-3, 7-5) in the second round. It is Heinert's third career second-place finish after being second at No. 6 singles in 2022 and 2023.
Tasha Bailey finished third at No. 1 singles on Sunday. The third-seed, Bailey defeated sixth-seed Molly Garber of UW-Stout in the first round (6-1, 6-1) before falling to second-seed Samantha Fuchs of UW-Eau Claire (6-0, 6-1) in the second round. Bailey captured third with a straight set win (6-1, 6-1) over fourth-seeded Mana Usui of UW-Oshkosh. Bailey won the No. 2 singles crown in 2021 and placed second at No. 1 singles a year ago.
All three doubles teams finished second on Sunday. At No. 1 doubles, Bailey and Roth fell (8-5) in the tournament championship match to top-seeded UW-Whitewater's Gracie Ha/Abby Weaver. Seeded-third, Bailey/Roth earned a victory (8-2) over sixth-seeded Alexis Budzinski/Chloe Struss of UW-River Falls in the opening round and defeated (8-6) second-seeded Samantha Fuchs/Anna Lee of UW-Eau Claire in the semifinals.
It is Bailey's third career second-place finish in doubles at the league championships. She was second at No. 2 doubles in 2021 with Kaitlyn Kalinka and second at No. 2 doubles last year with Lindow. Roth earned her second-place showing at the WIAC Championships. She teamed with Cady to finish second at No. 1 doubles last season.
Samuelson and Cady were second at No. 2 doubles. The second-seed, Samuelson/Cady lost in the championship match (8-5) to UW-Whitewater's Molly Asfeld/Alex Repplier, the tournament top-seed. Samuelson/Cady defeated seventh-seeded UW-Stout's Aspen Johnson/Odessa Barreyro in the first round (8-0) and third-seeded UW-Oshkosh's Kayla Gibss/Mana Usui in the second round (8-1).
Cady was second at No. 1 doubles with Roth a year ago.
Seeded first at No. 3 doubles, Lindow and Heinert placed second overall after dropping the title match (8-7) to second-seeded Ava Andrea/Crystina Lee of UW-Whitewater. Lindow/Heinert had a first round bye and then picked up a win (8-1) win over fifth-seeded Allie Brosteau/Abigail Ashley of UW-Stevens Point in the second round.
Lindow placed second at No. 2 doubles with Bailey in 2023.
UWL returns to action Sunday, February 2 hosting Concordia University Wisconsin at 12:30 p.m. at the Winona (Minn.) Tennis Center.
