It’s my last Central preview! I’ve been grinding away at these and have definitely learned a ton about the Women’s game with these previews. With NE and West leading the way, I think this year will be a great year for the Women’s side of things. We’re trying to continue to get more involvement from the Women’s side and are open to all suggestions on how to do so! This is a new venture for us (relatively) and we’re still trying to find our niche in this aspect of the blog. Anyways, for this article I’ll be previewing #26 UW-Whitewater.
Coach: Frank Barnes, 13th Season as Women’s Head Coach
Location: Whitewater, Wisconsin
Preseason Ranking: #26
Twitter Handle: @UWWTennis, great account for both Men’s and Women’s updates
Overview
I’ll admit, I’m learning a lot about UWW Women’s tennis as we speak. UWW has been a team that’s perennially been in the top 30, but they have never really reached the top 20 and it’s uncertain whether or not they can make that next step. They never really came close last year to touching any of the top 20, so we shall see what they can do this year. They have a stud player in Megan Humphreys, who has been a treat to watch over the past three years. She will be a junior this year and I’m expecting a lot from her as always. With the recent upset by the men’s Whitewater team, maybe there’s a little bit of extra motivation for the Women’s side to get themselves that premiere upset.
Key Additions: Gabrielle Kitchell
Key Losses: Amanda Dick (#6 Singles)
Lineup Analysis
#1 Singles, Megan Humphreys – UTR 8.34
Humphreys, as mentioned in the overview, has been UWW’s stud player the past three years. Last year, she made the finals of Small College Nationals on her way to a decently impressive year. While I don’t believe her season was up to her expectations, she’s still a force to reckon with at the top of the lineup. This year, she made Small College Nationals once again, but had to play EUDICE in the first round. After losing, she ended up getting 5th in the tournament, proving once again that she is a top player in the nation. Humphreys is going to be a key for the Warhawks this year, as she always is.
#2 Singles, Gabi Kitchell – UTR 7.96
Kitchell is the one Warhawk freshman this year and she has by far the second highest UTR out of the roster. She made the finals of the ITA draw, losing to her teammate Humphreys. UWW has to be really proud of this performance and expect Kitchell to be a solid #2 contributor. If there was one thing that the Warhawks needed, it was a top of the lineup player to move everyone else down a spot. I don’t have much data on Kitchell considering it looks like she never updated her Tennis Recruiting profile, so let’s just say she’s a true wild card.
#3 Singles, Brigid Mcguire – UTR 7.16
Going down the line via UTR, Brigid Mcguire is currently slotted at #3 singles. If there’s someone that is probably ecstatic about the incoming freshman Gabi Kitchell, it’s Mcguire. She played exclusively at #2 singles last year and struggled against top teams, so one thing she will hope is that #3 singles is the place for her. Obviously, it will be a much easier challenge for Mcguire at #3, but judging by UTR’s she will still need to up her game a little bit.
#4 Singles, Alex Talyansky – UTR 6.97
As is the story with many of the UWW players, Talyansky played a spot higher in the lineup last year and is hoping that a notch down will give her even greater success. She was a solid #3 last year until it came to top ranked teams, which seems to be the story with most of the UWW lineup. She’s had a great fall so far this year, where she lost in the Round of 16 to a top GAC player. She also won the WIAC, which is better than not winning the WIAC.
#5 Singles, Jillian Wallace – UTR 6.58
UWW has a habit of bringing in players that aren’t ranked on Tennis Recruiting and making them into solid bottom of the lineup players. That is a tribute to the UWW program and the players that they bring in. She had a big win against Case last year at #4 singles and that’s going to be the starting point for optimism for this year. If she can pull off a win like that, who’s to say she can’t pull off wins against the #20-30 ranked teams of the world and become a great bottom of the lineup contributor?
#6 Singles, Beck/Siemon/Goebel –
#6 singles might become a revolving door this year as many of the UWW players are around the same UTRs. This is going to be a very interesting spot for the Warhawks and one of their most important spots. In their losses last year, they didn’t get a ton of contribution from the bottom of the lineup, whether that be because of unfinished matches or coming up on the short end of the stick. Siemon played a lot at #6 last year and hopefully another year of experience will help out. Look for #6 singles to be a very interesting position for UWW.
Doubles
Much like their Men’s team, UWW has had a strong doubles base. Last year, they had two ranked teams! They actually have all of their players returning in doubles, which is always good when it comes to doubles. Chemistry is extremely important especially in the DIII world, and that is something that UWW has on their side. Expect the team of Humphreys/Mcguire to be a top team again this year. Expect Kitchell to make an impact on one of those teams, maybe even down at the #3 spot. That would be a big boost to that team. If UWW is going to make a dent in the rankings, doubles is going to be where it is.
Schedule Analysis
UWW Schedule Here:
http://www.uwwsports.com/schedule.aspx?path=wten
Basically, UWW plays a ton of Central teams wherever they go. They’ve gotten a lot of individual tournaments out of the way in the fall and will now move onto dual matches, where they will be heavily favored to win their conference once again. While this means an AQ bid, this doesn’t always guarantee the best draw, which is what UWW will be playing for.
UWW takes their Spring Break trip to beautiful Hilton Head, SC, where they really have one big match on the schedule. That match is against Depauw, who as you probably have read from Greek’s preview of the match, have lost every single one of their starters from last year. This presents a great opportunity for the Warhawks. They can capitalize on the inflated ranking of the Tigers by (maybe) getting their first top 20 win in a while. Can it be? Possibly. Spring Break will be a success if they win that match. The other matches on the schedule should be routine for Whitewater. UWW will then play a ton of random in region, out of conference matches such as Carthage, Carroll, amongst others. Again, UWW didn’t lose to any of these teams last year and I wouldn’t expect them to lose this year. They have a big match against Wash U as well, where they got beat last year pretty handily. Judging by Wash U’s lineup, I unfortunately don’t think UWW will be much of a challenge to them. We could see some nice top of the lineup matches with Humphreys and Kitchell, but that might be all.
UWW will then finish up by most likely winning the WIAC tournament and moving onto NCAAs. They were in the Depauw region last year, but time will tell if Depauw even hosts a region this year. UWW should either be a #2 or #3 seed in their region and will get a chance to get that NCAA win, which is always nice. UWW should be making that their goal this year as a repeat performance to last year.
Conclusion
Alright, that’s all for my Central Women’s previews. As we are now approaching and have even started the season, it’s time to get this blog into top gear and start reporting on what really matters – results. Keep checking back as we finish up our season previews and get ready for what should be an amazing week next week. ASouth, OUT.