Elkhorn, Wis. - The Wheaton women's tennis team faced UW-La Cross on Friday afternoon in a regional match at Elkhorn, Wisconsin's Four Lakes Athletic Club. Wheaton earned a 5-4 victory in the matchup at the neutral site. Wheaton won five of the six singles matches to earn its five points.
The Eagles entered today's match ranked 13 in this week's ITA Division III Central Region rankings while Wheaton is 19th. UW-La Crosse is now 12-2 on the season, as the Thunder improve to 15-5.
The Eagles led 3-0 early by winning all three doubles matches. The first doubles match to conclude was at No. 3 doubles as the UW-La Crosse team of Katie Kearney and Kaitlyn Kalinka picked up an 8-4 win against the Thunder team of
Sarah Backer and
Lily Anne Van Ye. The Eagles' next win was an 8-6 victory for Morgan Graf and Hannah Riegle at No. 2 doubles against
Lydia Adams and
Bethany Hoogerheide. The Eagles' No. 1 doubles team of Kellie Hierl and Kimberly Steinert picked up an 8-4 win against
Abygale Ahn and
Audrey Vick to put UW-La Crosse up 3-0 in the team score.
The Wheaton rally in singles play started with a win for Hoogerheide at No. 3 singles. She earned the first Thunder win with a 6-1, 7-5 victory against Riegle. The Eagles came to the brink of earning the win when Steinert def. Ahn 6-1, 6-2 in their match at No. 1 singles to give UW-La Crosse a 4-1 advantage in the team score.
Adams helped the Wheaton rally with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles. Vick trimmed the UWL lead to 4-3 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles against Hierl. Backer tied the team score at 4-4 as she earned a 6-4, 6-4 win against Graf at No. 4 singles. Wachs closed out the victory for the Thunder as she defeated Kaitlyn Kalinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Wachs' victory gave Wheaton the 5-4 win as the Thunder rallied from a 4-1 deficit.
Wheaton is slated to return to action April 20 as the Thunder host IIT at 6:45. p.m.
