The Wisconsin women’s tennis team entered Sunday’s match at Nielsen Tennis Stadium against Ohio State still looking for its first win in Big Ten play. The Badgers — 7-5 against nonconference competition — had failed to record a victory in their first six conference matches of the season, and the 29th-ranked Buckeyes prolonged the Badgers’ recent woes, defeating them 5-2.
Ohio State began the match by sweeping Wisconsin in the doubles portion of the competition, clinching a 1-0 lead in the match when Angela DiPastina and Christina Keesey claimed an 8-4 victory over junior Elizabeth Carpenter and freshman Jessica Seyferth of Wisconsin.
In singles play, the Buckeyes won four of six matches to nail down the victory. Carpenter and freshman Emese Kardhordo picked up the Badgers’ two points of the match. Carpenter bounced back from a tough loss on Saturday, in which her opponent made a large comeback, to win a thrilling match over DiPastina, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
“It’s always a scare when you go up early and the girl battles back, and that started happening again today,” Carpenter said. “I was up 3-0 and [DiPastina] battled back to 3-3, but I was able to weather her great playing and was able to win that next game and the match.”
First-year coach Brian Fleishman was proud of his star player’s gutsy effort.
“I think what helped [Carpenter] win today’s match was everything that’s happened up to this point,” Fleishman said. “She’s been playing No. 1 for us all year, except for one match, and she just used all that experience and kind of got fed up with losing and got herself over the hump today.”
On Saturday, Wisconsin faced a formidable Indiana team looking to rebound from a tough home defeat at the hands of its in-state rival, No. 19 Notre Dame. The Hoosiers, ranked No. 28 in the nation, took care of business, sweeping the overmatched Badgers 7-0.
In doubles play, Wisconsin’s No. 1 doubles team of Seyferth and Carpenter got the only win of the match with a victory over Indiana’s Brianna Williams and Katya Zamanova. The Badgers lost the other two doubles matches, and the Hoosiers took the early 1-0 lead.
In the No. 1 singles match, Carpenter faced Alba Berdala, a talented junior from Spain. The match started promisingly for Carpenter, as she jumped out to a 4-0 advantage by capitalizing on the early mistakes of Berdala.
Despite the strong start, however, Carpenter failed to win the first set. Berdala went on to win six consecutive games and handed Carpenter a demoralizing 6-4 first set defeat. The second set was competitive, but Carpenter, still visibly frustrated by her collapse in the first set, never fully recovered, and Berdala took the match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
The remainder of the singles competition went similarly for the Badgers, who lost all of their singles matches in straight sets aside from senior Morgan Tuttle, who won her first set in the No. 4 match before falling by a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“We competed well,” Fleishman said. “Still, we haven’t gotten the Big Ten win yet. That’s the one we’re looking for, but I think, for the most part, everybody competed to the best of their ability today, and that’s all we’re asking of them — to fight to the end and try to leave it out there on the court.”
The Badgers are on the road next weekend, visiting Big Ten opponents Minnesota and Iowa on Apr. 12 and 13, respectively.