The Wisconsin women's tennis team ended its season Friday afternoon and exited the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at the hands of second-seeded Michigan after winning a first round matchup against Iowa.
In the first round of the tournament junior Katya Mirnova dealt the fatal blow to clip the Hawkeyes 4-2 as the sun sank outside Nielsen Tennis Stadium Thursday evening. The Badger came back from a first set loss to take her second easily and battled out the third against sophomore Alexis Dorr until her forehand gave her double-match point. Mirnova capitalized on the second and earned the final point the Badgers needed to dismiss the Hawkeyes and advance to the tournament quarterfinals.
""She did give me a few mistakes which encouraged me, but she played really, really well today, very consistent,"" Mirnova said. ""So I had to do the same against her.""
Iowa's new doubles arrangement was enough to take the doubles point, but sophomore Jessica Seyferth was quick to answer for the Badgers, starting singles scoring with a 6-3, 6-3 win over junior Kelcie Klockenga at No. 4 and erasing the Hawkeyes' lead. Freshman Angela Chupa who finished her regular season only 2-8 in conference stepped in at No. 5 and came up with a late break to defeat sophomore Jessica Young 7-5, 7-5, before freshman Dana Larsen came back to earn the Badgers' 3-2 edge with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory over freshman Allison Majercik.
Head coach Brian Fleishman attributed the team's grit against Iowa to their difficult regular-season schedule.
""I think all the lumps we took earlier in the season … made a payoff here at the end of the season,"" Fleishman said.
""We've come together really well at the end of the season, the team, and so I think everyone wanted to pull out those victories for each other, especially people who lost the last time,"" Seyferth added about watching her teammates follow her early lead and breaking down Iowa.
In the quarterfinals, the ladies' season came down to a battle against second-seeded Michigan, where the feisty Badgers succumbed to the No. 18 Wolverines 4-0 on a warm and windy Friday afternoon.
The Wolverines took the doubles point with an 8-1 win at No. 3 and an 8-4 at No. 2, but senior Liz Carpenter and Seyferth fought on at No. 1 and upset No. 27 senior Chisako Sugiyama and junior Tania Mahtani 8-6.
As the teams moved into singles play the Wolverines waged on, but so did the wind, and after the Badgers dropped first sets at all six positions, play was moved indoors.
Although Fleishman may try to convince the women otherwise, he admitted that the wind could complicate play for both teams.
""Nobody likes to play in the wind because it's really kind of uncomfortable. You never know where the ball is going to be. It kind of messes your game up,"" he said. ""It's just who deals with it better. Michigan dealt with it really, really well and we didn't.""
Playing without freshman Aleksandra Markovic, who did not feel 100 percent after doubles, and freshman Dana Larsen, who had lingering back pain from the day before, the Badgers could not stop the Wolverines on the indoor courts, and Michigan picked up the split it needed to take the meet 4-0 with wins at No. 2, 4 and 5.
""They've had a pretty good season and they're not afraid to be aggressive and hit their shots, and with the wind on their side they really were dealing with it a little bit better than us. I think it was advantageous to us to come indoors, maybe just a little too late,"" said senior Erin Jobe who played her last match as a Badger in the place of the injured Larsen at No. 6.
The Badgers, who were at one point this spring 0-6 in the Big Ten, end at 3-7 (9-15 overall) are focused more on the team's tremendous growth in the last weeks rather than leaving the conference tournament to Michigan. The Wolverines advanced to the finals, where they lost to top seed Northwestern as the Wildcats shutout the Wolverines 4-0 to capture their 11th consecutive tournament title.
""Everything we do is for a reason; with the ups and downs we've got to stick with it eventually in the end hopefully it will pay off,"" Fleishman said. ""We had a great end to the season. We would have liked to challenge Michigan and upset Ohio State, but I think we're getting better and we're in the right direction. With two new recruits next year I think it's going to be a different dynamic.""
