The Wisconsin women's tennis team sustained another crushing blow this weekend when the squad fell to Purdue 6-1 at home in their sixth conference loss this season.
The No. 70 Badgers (0-6 Big Ten, 5-13 overall) who hold an all-time record of 27-10 against Purdue walked on the court after last weekend's 6-1 loss to Michigan and the subsequent heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Michigan State.
""They had only one player in their lineup from last year's team. It's a whole new team so we really didn't have a good idea of what to expect,"" said head coach Brian Fleishman about the Boilermakers. ""Until you actually see the players it is really tough to judge and figure out how you're going to beat them, and I think our girls handled the situation well, not knowing that much about each of their players.""
The young Purdue team (2-3, 6-9) took the doubles point for an early lead, but the Badgers put up a vigorous fight.
At the No. 1 doubles spot, senior Elizabeth Carpenter partnered with freshman Aleksandra Markovic, and the pair fell 8-4 to Boilermaker senior Stephanie Wooten and junior Michelle Sammons.
Purdue furthered their early lead by pulling out a tight 9-7 victory at No. 2 over Wisconsin's junior Katya Mirnova and sophomore Emese Kardhordo.
With the momentum on their side as singles play opened, Purdue continued their campaign by collecting a point at the No. 3 position where Markovic fell in straight sets to Jennifer Rabot 6-3, 6-3. UW sophomore Jessica Seyferth also fell at No. 4 in an affecting tiebreak 6-1, 7-6 (4) before Carpenter earned the Badgers' only point for her victory over Sammons at No.1.
Carpenter fell behind 0-3 early in the first set but came back to overcome Sammons in a tiebreak for the set. She found her range in the second and closed out the match with a vengeance to take the point 7-6 (3), 6-0.
In a similar fashion Dana Larsen took her first set without dropping a game 6-0, but Purdue's Remi Martin doubled back to take the second 6-1.
""I knew she was kind of not playing her game, so I knew she was going to come out much better in the next two sets,"" Larsen said. ""I was prepared that she would step up her game.""
Finally Martin came out ahead in a decisive third to win the match and earn the Boilermakers the win at 4-1.
Even with the meet decided, UW freshman Angela Chupa fought on but retired in her third set. Mirnova struggled to convert on breakpoints and succumbed to Wooten after winning her first set 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
""You can look at losses two ways,"" Fleishman said. ""You can either be discouraged or you can actually learn from it. I think today we learned again that we are doing the right things, we just gotta get our execution.""
The Badgers move west next weekend to continue their drive for a conference win against Iowa and Minnesota Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
