MADISON, Wis. – A third-place finish by
Katelyn Asfeld (Waukesha, WI/Waukesha West) in the first singles flight highlighted the UW-Stevens Point women's tennis team's showing at the 2015 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship, as the Pointers finished tied for fourth at the event held on Saturday and Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Results UW-Stevens Point finished in a tie with UW-Oshkosh with 27 points at the meet, meaning the Pointers finished fifth in the overall championship standings. The Pointers were fifth in the dual-meet standings, which account for one-third of the overall standings criteria, while the WIAC Championship results account for the remaining two-thirds. UW-Stevens Point finished with a total of 10 points in the overall standings, one point behind fourth-place UW-Oshkosh.
Asfeld, the fourth seed, finished third after winning two of her three matches on the weekend at first singles. The junior won her opener against fifth-seeded Bailey Sagen of UW-Oshkosh 6-4, 6-2. In the second round, Asfeld ran into the top seed in All-American Megan Humphreys of UW-Whitewater, who defeated Asfeld 6-0, 6-1. In the third-place match, Asfeld avenged a 6-1, 7-5 setback to UW-Eau Claire's Sarah Henderson nine days ago to claim third with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Emily Kleist (Muskego, WI/Muskego) placed fourth after entering the tournament as the fifth seed at second singles. Kleist opened the tournament with a 6-3, 6-3 over fourth-seeded Paige Ganser of UW-Oshkosh, before falling 6-0, 6-0 to UW-Whitewater's Gabi Kitchell, who is 21-1 this season. Kleist then dropped the third-place match 6-3, 6-0 to the third seed Olivia Gallagher of UW-Eau Claire.
Jordan Tyjeski (Beaver Dam, WI/Beaver Dam) was fourth at fifth singles, dropping her last two matches after winning her opener 6-3, 6-1 against Anna Lano of UW-Stout. Tyjeski's two losses came to top-seeded Jillian Wallace from UW-Whitewater and third-seeded Brooke Volpone.
Nicole Thorson (Ripon, WI/Ripon) finished sixth at third singles, falling 6-4, 6-1 to UW-Oshkosh's Sophie Pitz in her first match and 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 to Linsey Thisius of UW-Stout in the fifth-place match.
Frances Weiss (Sussex, WI/Sussex-Hamilton) was sixth at fourth singles, going down 7-6 (5), 6-0 to Shauna Stoffregen of UW-Oshkosh and 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 to UW-Stout's Kelsey Pedersen.
Elizabeth Wilichowski (Sussex, WI/Sussex-Hamilton) was sixth in the sixth singles flight, falling 6-0, 6-3 to UW-Stout's Katie Kreibich and 6-1, 6-1 to UW-Oshkosh's Paige Klost.
Kleist and Thorson teamed up to finish fifth in the number one doubles flight. The pair fell 8-4 in their opener to Sagen and Ganser but claimed the fifth-place match 8-2 over UW-River Falls' Kelly Mendel and Anna Ebensperger.
At second doubles, Asfeld and
Kaylee Roberts (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) lost a tight opening match 8-6 to Paige Kuepers and Gallagher of UW-Eau Claire but won their second match 8-5 against Pitz and Stoffregen. The duo fell in the fifth-place match 9-7 to Thsius and Lano to finish sixth.
Tyjeski and Johnson came in fifth at third doubles. After dropping their opener 8-4 to Danielle Lutz and Pedersen of UW-Stout, the pair rebounded for an 8-6 win over Hannah Nauth and Paige Kloth of UW-Oshkosh in the fifth-place match.
Tyjeski was the UW-Stevens Point representative on the All-Sportsmanship Team, which was announced following the conclusion of play.
