Results

MADISON - The UW-Stevens Point women's tennis team placed fourth at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament on Sunday evening at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Pointers head coach Karlyn Jakusz was named Coach of the Year while Emily Riordan (Appleton) was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

UW-La Crosse finished second with 18 points while UW-Eau Claire finished third with 15. UW-River Falls finished fifth (9 points), followed by UW-Oshkosh (6) and UW-Stout (3).

The Coach of the Year award for Jakusz is her first in this her sixth season at the helm of the tennis program. This season she led the Pointers to a 10-5 overall record and a 3-3 mark in conference play.

Chelsea Allbaugh (Bettendorf, IA), who began the tournament as the top seed at No. 2 singles, battled her way to a second place finish on the weekend. Allbaugh received a first round by and advanced to the championship match by virtue of a 6-3, 6-1 victory over UW-Oshkosh's Emily Bostwick, the No. 5 seed.

In the championship match against La Crosse's Kelly Stadum, the No. 2 seed, Allbaugh took the first set 6-2, but fell 3-6 in the second and lost a tiebreak in the third, falling 7-6 (1).

Third-seeded Rachel Benn (Stevens Point) and Kaitlyn King (Plover) both claimed fourth place finishes in their respective brackets while Leah Benn (Stevens Point) finished fifth at No. 6 singles and Riordan finished sixth at No. 3.

In doubles, Rachel Benn (Stevens Point/SPASH) and Allbaugh fought their way from the No. 5 seed to the championship match before falling to Kalla Schaefer and Michelle Daciolas of UW-Whitewater 8-6.

The tandem of Kaylei Sorensen (Plover) and Leah Benn (Stevens Point/SPASH) went 1-1 in the first and second rounds of the tournament but fell 8-0 to the La Crosse tandem of Jenny Maruyama and Andra Vivian, taking home fourth place.

At No. 2 doubles, Riordan and King rebounded from an opening round 8-3 loss to win their second round match 8-1 over UW-Stout, advancing to the fifth place match. In their final match, the two defeated Brittany Braasch and Whitney Tornow of Oshkosh 8-6.

UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater now advance to a team tournament to decide the conference's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship. The WIAC team tournament will be held at UW-Whitewater the weekend prior to the NCAA championship in the spring.