The Wisconsin women's tennis team split another weekend series, earning a 5-2 victory over Marquette Saturday and falling 3-4 to No. 51 William & Mary Sunday.
""A win today would have been great for the program,"" head coach Brian Fleishman said. ""It would have put us in the rankings. It would have built some confidence going into playing Northwestern. We needed that, but we'll give them confidence in practice.""
The lady Badgers, who lost to William & Mary (5-6) on the road last year, split doubles wins at positions No. 1 and 2 but tipped the point in their favor with a tiebreak victory from senior Katya Mirnova and sophomore Angela Chupa. At No. 3 the pair was unable to shut down the Tribe on a match point at 8-7 but got it done when they came back from a four-point deficit to take the match and point 9-8(4).
Moving into singles play, the Badgers quickly extended their lead to 2-0 with a victory from one of three vibrant new additions, freshman Hannah Berner. At No. 4 she dismissed freshman Nina Vulovich 6-2, 6-2.
""I think my movement is what's really getting me the wins right now,"" Berner said. ""I feel like I could play all day.""
The next three matches to finish broke for the Tribe, and they assumed the lead 3-2 with victories at No. 1, 2 and 6, making the remaining two matches in progress must-wins for the Badgers. Junior Jessica Seyferth dropped an early lead to lose her first set in a tiebreak and slipped up in the second to give up the point 6(6)-7, 3-6. As the first to four points, the Tribe won the match with the victory at No. 3, but Badger sophomore Aleksandra Markovic came out on top of junior Lauren Sabacinski 7-5, 7-6(5) and held the result to 4-3 in favor of William & Mary.
Although Wisconsin was unable to hold off William & Mary, it tallied a win Saturday over Marquette (8-6) 5-2 and advanced to an overall record of 4-8 this weekend. Against Marquette, they notched a doubles point, as well as singles wins down the middle of the line-up at positions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
""The matches were close yesterday at Marquette, and we really used what we did at [ITA] indoors, the butt kicking that we took,"" Fleishman said. ""That's what got us over the top.""
After six weeks of dual play, the women will take a breather next weekend before Northwestern March 13, but for Fleishman the break is an opportunity to tighten practice routines.
""The girls are thinking they've done enough because they're doing what's asked of them, and now what they have to do is they have to play with some extra time,"" Fleishman said. ""That's going to make them respect the game a little bit more and make them realize when we get in this situation, we can actually win these matches.""
The disappointment against William & Mary spelled a missed opportunity for Fleishman, who seemed confident the result could just have easily gone the other way and given them their first victory over a ranked opponent this season.
""They know we had an opportunity today, and they know they put themselves in a position to win,"" Fleishman said. ""Now they realize ... we need to do more work. I hope that's what they realize. That's what I realize.""
