The UW women's tennis team snapped a five-match losing streak Wednesday with a nerve-wracking 4-3 win over in-state rival Marquette (1-8) at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Junior Nicole Beck clinched the victory for the Badgers at the No. 6 spot. After losing the first set, the Lawrenceville, Ga. native fought back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Marquette's Shannon Brown. That put the Badgers (0-1 Big Ten, 3-5 overall) up 4-1 to seal the victory.
""She came up to me today and she said, ‘Why not try?'"" UW head coach Patti Henderson said. ""‘Why not just try and see what I can do and the worst that happens is that I'd have to default, but it's better than just not putting anyone on the court.' When she stepped out on the court, it took her a while to work herself mentally into that whole concept of singles point play. She just played with incredible heart and guts and in the end, we needed that match; that was the match.""
UW started the match off right, taking two of three matches in doubles to clinch the critical doubles point. Beck and junior Chelsea Nusslock secured the doubles point by defeating the Golden Eagles duo of Maria Calbeto and Kylie Moore 8-6 at the No. 2 spot. The No. 1 doubles pair of senior Kaylan Caiati and sophomore Liz Carpenter started it by taking out Lauren Little and Maggie Watkins 8-1.
Caiati and Carpenter were also clutch on the singles side. Caiati dominated Little 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot, while Carpenter cruised 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 despite dropping the first set to Moore at No. 2.
Sophomore Erin Jobe won the first set at No. 4, but couldn't hang on, losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Calbeto.
The Badgers will host Princeton Sunday at 11 a.m. before starting a four-match Big Ten road trip March 3. The two-week break will be welcomed by UW, which has struggled with injuries and a lack of depth all season long.
""I'm really happy for them and now we just have to rest up and hope that we can put six bodies on the court again against Princeton,"" Henderson said.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
