"And we would all go down together," the gentle serenading chorus of Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon," has become a startling summation of the Wisconsin women's tennis team's health of late.
With four starting players — literally half of the squad's entire roster — either currently ill or on the sniffling rebound, the Badgers are struggling to fall into a spring rhythm as they battle a lineup that garners a new monkey wrench with every emerging flu-like symptom.
"Certainly, I think … we've been facing some adversity, and ultimately, I think we'll be better off for it," head coach Patti Henderson said of the team's health spat. "When we're 100 percent healthy, which we will be at some point this season, it will give us some added confidence."
Thus far this season, the team's top four players — Caitlin Burke, Nicole Beck, Kaylan Caiati and Chelsea Nusslock — have all spent at least one match on the sideline as a result of their various medical afflictions. And heading into this weekend's home match against DePaul, it remains unclear which of those athletes will be able to compete at 100 percent, while the possibility looms that at least one won't be able to take to the singles court at all.
"I'd rather have it now than in the middle of the Big Ten season or the Big Ten tournament," the team's only senior, Lexi Goldin, said of coping with the depleted lineup.
Still, key team members have enjoyed a certain level of success despite having to deal with coughing spats on the court. Most recently, after sitting out last Friday's match against Brigham Young University due to illness, the team's ace, Burke, managed a spectacular 6-4, 6-4 win over her highly ranked Notre Dame opponent Sunday.
Rank and File: The new Division I collegiate tennis team rankings came out Tuesday, and the Badgers, despite a duo of losses over the weekend during which the squad claimed only one of 14 possible points, have stayed steady at the No. 51 spot in the country.
"Outside of Western Michigan, every other loss we have — most of them are [top 20,]" Henderson said. "We have a tough strength of schedule; we have wins over teams that we're supposed to beat."
Moreover, Henderson is quick to note that with the fierce schedule the Badgers have worked thus far, so much as a single victory could have catapulted the team into the 30s on the national poll. And while such may seem a fantastical wish based on some rather bleak box scores, numerous matches have been much closer this spring than the statistics tend to indicate.
Various Badger defeats have come only after tandems of lengthy deuces and doubles points that easily could have fallen to Wisconsin's advantage with a difference bounce of the ball.
Still, the team has always been inclined to shrug off early season rankings and the current No. 51 spot is no exception.
"It's the Big Ten season that counts," Goldin says of the squad's forthcoming conference slate. "Qualifying for NCAAs is realistic."
And Goldin is also quick to point to the same weighty competition Henderson makes note of, pointing out that tough losses to a few highly-ranked opponents — especially with Wisconsin fighting a depleted roster — may turn to the team's advantage by season's end.
"Both the teams we lost to [last weekend] … were good experiences," Goldin said. "They're not going to hurt you [in the rankings] if you lose, and they're only going to make you better.”
