Holding true to her No. 32 national ranking, junior Caitlin Burke was victorious in both singles and doubles competition, extending her winning streak to five matches this spring, but the Wisconsin women's tennis team dropped a home contest to No. 54 Western Michigan (2-2, 0-0 MAC) 5-2 Saturday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Broncos took five of the six singles contests on the day, dropping the Badgers non-conference record to 1-1.
'We've got to do a better job of thinking on our feet,' head coach Patti Henderson said. 'There is no way we can lose our first four or five first sets before we figure out what's going on. We had some great battles in the end. Kaylan [Caiati] and Morgan [Tuttle] fought hard. But I'm disappointed, as I'm sure the girls are.'
One of the few bright spots on the afternoon was sophomore Nicole Beck's return from a month-long illness. She teamed with fellow sophomore Chelsea Nusslock to defeat Reedina Parekh and Noriko Saruta 8-5 in No. 3 doubles action.
'She's a great competitor,' Henderson said of Beck's return. 'Nicole is always going to give 100 percent and she competes very well. I'm sure for her it was good to finally get in a match.'
UW will host to the 19th annual USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships, featuring 16 nationally ranked tennis programs including defending national champion Stanford.
