Royal Purple

Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Nick Koscielniak

After her defeat at the hands of Wheaton College's Jordan Hook, Warhawk sophomore Ingrid Stensvaag was given a few words of advice from Head Coach Frank Barnes.

"Hey, don't worry about the score, worry about how you played," said Barnes.

The same advice could have been administered to the entire UW-Whitewater squad. While it's true that the Warhawks were swept, 9-0, by the Wheaton College Thunder, there wasn't a sad or depressed expression on any of the faces of the 'Hawks.

"It was a good match. It definitely showed what we can do," said senior co-captain Jessie Farrar. "We had some close matches, and Wheaton's a good team … it just didn't turn out the way we wanted it to."

The 'Hawks certainly knew from the beginning what kind of competition it was going to be going against. The Thunder, ranked fifth in the region and 21st in the nation, boasted a two-time singles All-American in Hook, and was coming off an 18-3 season. While UW-Whitewater didn't back down from Wheaton, the Thunder was simply too much, taking all three doubles matches by scores of 8-2.

While a break in between the doubles and singles portion of the match gave the 'Hawks an opportunity to re-focus, it did little good, as the Thunder once again swept UW-Whitewater. Hook again was dominating, this time in No. 1 singles, as she defeated Stensvaag in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

"She [Hook] was hitting winners left and right," said Stensvaag. "I was playing well. I didn't make any errors. She was just hitting really good shots."

Similarily, senior co-captain Jessie Farrar and junior Kara Amundson, playing at No. 2 and No. 3 singles respectively, were defeated by Wheaton College's Shannon Hale and Brooke Parish.

Lauren Fahl, a freshman out of Brookfield, had UW-Whitewater's best chance of tasting victory on the afternoon, after taking the first set of the No. 4 singles match, 6-4. But after coming within a couple of games of UW-Whitewater's only team point, the Thunder's Brittany Dunn staged a comeback , and won the match 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Despite the outcome, Barnes wasn't upset with his team's performance.

"I asked them to do certain things. If they do those things on the court, I tell them I'm happy with the way [they] played," said Barnes. "The results will eventually take care of themselves when we're playing the competition at the end of the conference season."

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