UW-L Completes First Day of Play at WIAC Championships

For Immediate Release: Saturday, October 25, 2008

Madison, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse women's tennis team completed first day of play at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships Saturday night at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.

The Eagles advanced all six of their singles players into the semi-finals scheduled for Sunday morning. At No. 1 singles, Kelly Kuether defeated Gina Dahl of UW-Eau Claire (4-6, 7-5, 7-5) and will face top-seeded Kalla Schaefer of UW-Whitewater in the semifinals. Carlie Bohrman advanced to the semi-finals at No. 2 singles after defeating Jenna Abbott of UW-Oshkosh (6-4, 1-6, 6-1) and faces UW-Stevens Point's Chelsea Allbaugh in the next round Sunday morning.

At No. 3 singles, UW-L's Katie McDonald, the defending conference champion at the flight, advanced with a win over UW-River Falls' Katie Lynn Anderson (6-0, 6-1). McDonald will play Emily Bostwick of UW-Oshkosh in the semifinals. Jenny Maruyama, the fifth seed at No. 4 singles, earned a win over fourth seed Liz Leffler of UW-Oshkosh in the first round (6-4, 7-6) and will play top-seeded Amy Siemon of UW-Whitewater.

UW-L's Sarah Schoenwaelder advanced at No. 5 singles with a victory over UW-Stevens Point's Katilyn King (6-1, 6-3) and faces Lindsey Luberda of UW-Stout in the semifinals. Megan Fallon will play Mindy Rudiger of UW-River Falls in the No. 6 singles semifinals after defeating Eva Counsell of UW-Oshkosh (6-3, 6-3).

The Eagles' three doubles teams will each play for third-place Sunday as they all finished 1-1 in Saturday's preliminary play. At No. 1 doubles, Schoenwaelder/Bohrman defeated Kathryne Ostrowski/Rudiger of UW-River Falls (8-4), but fell to Rachel Benn/Allbaugh of UW-Stevens Point in the semifinals (8-6). Schoenwaelder/Bohrman face Dahl/Courtney Lynne of UW-Eau Claire for third-place.

Debbie Braun/Maruyama advanced to the semifinals with a victory over Emily Riordan/Kaylei Sorensen of UW-Stevens Point (8-5) at No. 2 doubles before losing to Brenna McCormick/Erin Welch of UW-Eau Claire in the next round (8-6). Braun/Maruyama will play Brittany Braasch/Alison Broerman of UW-Oshkosh in the third-place match.

UW-L's Kuether/Fallon defeated UW-Stevens Point's Kaitlyn King/Emily Oxton of UW-Stevens Point (8-4) at No. 3 doubles, but lost to UW-Whitewater's Kara Amundson/Brittany Gering in the semifinals (8-6). Kuether/Fallon will play UW-Eau Claire's Jackie Gillespie/Emily Hiebl for third-place.

The conference team title will be determined by using a combination of the regular season dual meet standings and the conference championship results.  The finish in the regular season standings accounts for one-third of the criteria, while the WIAC championship accounts for the remaining two-thirds. UW-L finished second to UW-Whitewater in the regular season standings with a 5-1 league mark.

Action concludes Sunday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.