The University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s tennis team (17-4, 10-3 Big Ten) headed east for the weekend to wrap up regular-season play with two ranked matches. For the No. 24 Badgers, the road trip started in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, April 19. The No. 9 Ohio State Buckeyes (18-3, 12-1) played host to the Badgers and claimed a decisive 4-0 victory.
The final score was telling, as the Badgers struggled to get going against a tough Buckeye team. In doubles play, Ohio State’s No. 3 tandem Sydni Ratliff and Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev handled freshman Tianna Rangan and sophomore Ellison Reynoldson 6-1. Shortly after, the Buckeyes claimed the doubles point when Audrey Spencer and Nao Nishino defeated freshman Parker Christensen and senior Taylor Cataldi 6-2.
Ohio State continued its dominance in singles play to complete a clean sweep of the Badgers. No. 4 Nishino started off strong for the Buckeyes, with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 victory over Rangan. Ratliff was the next victor in the No. 3 spot, defeating Wisconsin’s freshman Ekaterina Ivanova 6-2, 6-3. In the No. 6 match, Reynoldson forced a first-set tiebreaker but fell 7-6, then 6-0 in the second set to Alessia Cau to cap off a decisive team win for the Buckeyes.
Luckily for Wisconsin, there was a quick turnaround as the team headed to State College, Pennsylvania, to meet the No. 53 Penn State Nittany Lions (14-9, 5-8) April 20.
In the team’s second match in two days, the Badgers redeemed Saturday’s defeat with a stifling 4-0 victory of their own.
In a highly competitive doubles session, the point came down to the third match. Wisconsin’s No. 1 junior pairing of Maria Sholokhova and Ariel Johnson won 6-3. Penn State evened things up through Olivia Dorner and Maiko Uchijima’s 7-6 victory over Ivanova and Cataldi in the No. 2 spot. In the No. 3 match to claim the doubles point, Christensen and sophomore Kája Jacobson squeezed out a 7-6 victory over the Nittany Lion duo of Deanna Lasorda and Maria Ciubotaru.
Singles play was not as much of a sweat for the Badgers, though. No. 3 Ivanova made quick work of Patricia Grigoras 6-3, 6-1 to start a run of three straight singles victories for the Badgers. She was joined by No. 1 Sholokhova, who beat Dorner 6-2, 6-2, and No. 6 Christensen, who defeated Lasorda 7-6, 6-0 to cap off a clean sweep.
The Badgers will now look ahead to the Big Ten Tournament, which takes place April 23-27 in Ojai, California. Wisconsin will be the No. 5 seed, missing out on a first-round bye in a tiebreaker against UCLA. The Badgers are set to play in the first round Wednesday, April 23. They will face Penn State for the second time in three days and, with a win, will face the No. 4 UCLA Bruins on Thursday, April 24.
