The UW Oshkosh women’s tennis head coach Robert Henshaw described his team’s performance as “rough” at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional in St. Peter, MN this past weekend.
Henshaw had little to say about competing in the tournament.
“I am fine with not speaking much about the ITA,” Henshaw said. “We had two individuals stand out but the majority of the team had a rough outing. The ITA is really an individual tournament and I would prefer to speak about the production of the team.”
The team’s overall score was 5-14.
Freshman Alyssa Leffler, who finished the weekend with a 3-3 singles and doubles combined record, had more positive things to say about the tournament.
“The competition was good,” Leffler said. “Everyone did a great job. It was a lot of tennis packed into two days, but it was a lot of fun.”
In the first round of singles play, UW-La Crosse’s Haley Clope defeated junior Bailey Sagen 6-2 and 7-5.
Junior Paige Ganser also fell in the first round, as she lost to UW-Eau Claire’s Olivia Gallagher 3-6 and 4-6.
Samantha Flemming of UW-La Crosse beat sophomore Hannah Peters 6-1 and 6-3, while sophomore Annie Docter was swept by St. Scholastic’s Jessica Solberg 2-6 and 3-6.
Leffler was the only Titan to earn a win in singles play. In the consolation bracket of singles, she dominated her opponent, Claire Christian from Luther College, 8-3.
Sagen lost 3-8 in the consolation bracket to Sarah Lasecki from Coe College. Ganser was also dominated 1-8 by Bridget McKeegan of Nebraska Wesleyan. Docter fell 3-8 to St. Thomas’ Jessie O’Brien in the consolation bracket as well.
Sagen and Peters got their first win of the day in doubles play, as they defeated their opponents, Sarah Lasecki and Kaitlin Fosler from Coe College 8-4.
Leffler and her partner, freshman Samantha Koppa ,were defeated in the first round by St. Norbert College’s Elizabeth Manlick and Meg Witt 8-3. Additionally, Docter and Ganser were crushed by Taylor McLeod and Paige McLeod from St. Thomas 0-8.
In the second round of singles play, Megan Humphreys and Gabi Kitchell of UW-Whitewater flew by Sagan and Peters 0-8.
In the first round in the consolation bracket, Docter and Ganser fell to Bri Dorr and Aubrey Eckstrom from St. Catherine University.
Koppa and Leffler had a strong run, winning three straight matches after moving to the consolation bracket.
In the first round they defeated Riley Abeyesekera and Lauren Martin from Gustavus Adolphus College 8-3.
By default, they won against Madison Crow and Claire Christian from Luther College. In round three, they snuck past Paige Vannausdle and Jenna Stewart of Central College 8-2.
However, the duo lost to Molly Stewart and Olivia Gallagher from UWEC by default due to the team leaving the tournament prior to the match starting, Koppa said.
According to Koppa, there was some miscommunication between tournament officials and the UWO tennis team. That, along with the fact Leffler had already played five other times that day, led to the team departing from the tournament.
“When we went to the building to give them our scores for the previous match, they told us we were in the finals, but we thought we had already won the consolation finals,” Koppa said. “We wouldn’t have played for three or four hours. It was a group decision to leave.”
Although her team did not leave the tournament with a victory, Leffler still took away a winning attitude from the weekend.
“It was a very cool experience,” Leffler said. “There were teams from all over the Midwest and the facility where it was held was incredible.”
The Titans will face off against Marian University on Thursday, Sept. 29 at Buttermilk Creek Park in Fond du Lac.
