The Wisconsin women's tennis team will head to West Lafayette, Ind. for a Saturday match against the Purdue Boilermakers, and then quickly turn around and leave for Champaign, Ill. for a Sunday match against the Illinois Illini.
Wisconsin is 4-15 overall and 1-6 in the Big Ten. The Badgers, whose lone conference victory came against Penn State, have lost three in a row since defeating the Lady Lions April 1. Most recently, Wisconsin dropped road matches at Iowa (6-1) and Minnesota (4-3). The Badgers have won one road match all year; they are 1-8 on the road, and 0-5 in Big Ten road matches. Kaylan Caiati currently holds down the No. 1 singles position. Previous No. 1 Caitlin Burke has been out of the lineup since late February due to injury.
Against Iowa last Saturday, Wisconsin found it hard to come out with victories. In her first trip back to Iowa since transferring to UW last fall, sophomore Morgan Tuttle flat-out trounced IU's freshman Kayla Berry, 6-0, 6-0 for the lone Badger victory of the day. The Brisbane, Australia native could do nothing but weather the storm as Tuttle turned in her most dominating performance of the year at No. 5 singles. However, the day belonged to the Hawkeyes. Iowa swept the doubles points and continued their momentum by winning five of six singles matches en route to a performance that justifies their leadership atop the Big Ten standings.
No. 46 Purdue (10-7, 4-2 Big Ten) went 2-1 last week. The Boilermakers played their first of three matches at home Wednesday, when they beat Western Michigan 5-2. Purdue then traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., where it lost 5-2 to No. 36 Michigan on Saturday. The Boilermakers got back on track in East Lansing, Mich., with a 5-2 win against the Spartans on Sunday. Freshman Mallory Voelker delivered three singles and two doubles victories over the week.
As for Illinois, it is coming off of a 6-1 loss to Michigan last Sunday. Sophomore Macall Harkins won her seventh consecutive time, but the Wolverines' home-field advantage and experience were too much for the rest of the Illini. Illinois (6-11, 1-5) is currently last in the Big Ten standing.
The Badgers are only two spots ahead of Illinois in the ninth spot. Wisconsin will have a tough time against Purdue Saturday and Illinois Sunday, but with a little luck and a good effort, they may be able to pull out a win.
