When the Wisconsin women's tennis team takes to the court at Northwestern Friday, less than half the Badgers sporting racquets will be returning players. As the Wildcat Duals begin in Evanston, Ill., UW will be entering three true freshmen, a transfer student and a trifecta of veterans from last season into play. And for head coach Patti Henderson, that means the tournament will provide an excellent internal scouting report.
"We are very, very young. We have four new faces. Three true freshmen and a transfer," Henderson says, referencing last weekend's play at Fuhrman as the first genuine competition of the young season. "And these are people that I, personally, haven't seen compete in over a year."
Ali Salomone, Erin Jobe and Elizabeth Carpenter will be playing in just their second college tennis tournament, having made their debuts last weekend. Meanwhile, Badger veterans Kaylan Caiati, Chelsea Nusslock and Lexi Goldin all bring experience to the court, with sophomore Morgan Tuttle entering her second season of play, but first in a Wisconsin uniform after transferring from Iowa.
For all on the team, though, the goal for this weekend will simply be to gain more experience and ease back into the tennis season.
"I just hope to get into my groove a little more, play a little better than I did last weekend and have a fun weekend with the girls," Tuttle says.
The same goes for returning team members settling back into the program after a summer off.
"[I want] to improve upon last weekend," Nusslock said. "Last weekend was good, but [the goal is] to keep building."
Keeping with the theme of still getting to know the relatively new team in all of its dimensions, Henderson will be tampering with portions of the lineup this weekend.
"We continue to mess around with doubles combinations and doubles lineups," Henderson said. "[I'm] just trying to see who works well together."
The team appears comfortable with the lineup tweaks and is even anxious to get to know each other better through on-court action.
"I think this weekend will be good because we'll get to have different combinations in doubles and it will be good for our coaches to see who works well together and who doesn't," Caiati said.
One new pairing will be the returning Nusslock and freshman Carpenter. Nusslock played alongside Tuttle last weekend, with Carpenter having taken to the court with sophomore Nicole Beck.
"I'm excited because I think Chelsea's a great doubles player and I hope we match up well," Carpenter said.
Beck will be inactive this weekend due to an injury. Returning junior Caitlin Burke will also be absent from the court, as she battles at the ITA All-American Championships in Los Angeles, Calif.
