It has been a rollercoaster ride of a season for the Wisconsin women’s tennis team. There have been many ups and downs on the year, but head coach Brian Fleishman anticipates his team is only at the beginning of another fun ride heading into postseason play.
The Badgers, fresh off an encouraging win in their regular season finale, will look to build off that momentum heading into the 2010 Big Ten conference tournament.
“I think we’re right where we need to be right now,” Fleishman said.
This past week was a perfect example of the ride the Badgers have been on all season long, as they were swept 7-0 by 30th-ranked Ohio State to begin their final road trip, but bounced back with a convincing 5-2 win at Penn State.
“It was kind of a rough week last week due to the traveling and tough match against Ohio State,” senior Katya Mirnova said. “But against Penn St. we picked it up.”
Mirnova, the team’s only senior, has put together a strong finish to her season and is peaking at the right time, as she has won six of her last seven singles matches.
Another theme for the Badgers this season has been the frequent lineup changes throughout. Fleishman emphasized the reason for all the moves is because he wants everyone to prove themselves this year and establish their positions.
“Some of the older players are starting to kind of get it,” Fleishman said. “And some of the freshmen just played like freshmen to start the year, but it’s a normal process for them to get their feet on the ground.”
Junior Alaina Trgovich, who has played in every singles position this year, has become quite familiar with all of the shuffling done to the lineup.
After missing all of last season with a torn ACL, Trgovich began this season in the No. 6 singles position. But after elevating her game throughout the spring and playing “the best I’ve played since being back,” she has most recently been seeing action in the No. 1 singles position.
“I think this lineup that we have now is probably the best that we’ve had,” Trgovich said. “I think we’re going to do well with it.”
Wisconsin will open the first round early Thursday against a familiar border rival in Minnesota, a team the Badgers scored a dramatic upset win over the last time they met two weeks ago in Madison.
Behind wins from Trgovich and Kathleen Saltarelli in the No. 1 and No. 6 singles positions to end the match, the Badgers were able to seal the comeback victory over the Gophers, who were ranked 16th in the nation at the time.
“It was a great match with Minnesota last time, and both teams played extremely well,” Fleishman said. “But both teams will have different lineups this time around, so it’ll be interesting to see how we match up. I think it’s going to be a better match than it was last time.”
The winner will earn a spot in the quarterfinal match Friday against Michigan.
The Wolverines, ranked third in the nation, won the Big Ten regular season crown this year, ending an 11 consecutive year reign by perennial champion Northwestern, but Wisconsin is not looking past the task at hand.
“We’re just preparing for Minnesota,” Mirnova said. “I expect them to be ready and to play even tougher than last time.”
Fleishman did admit, however, that the Big Ten is “as strong and as deep” as he’s ever seen it this year.
Aside from Michigan and Northwestern both being ranked in the top five nationally, there are five other Big Ten teams that are ranked in the top 65, which is a testament to the depth in the conference.
Nonetheless, the Badgers are excited to compete and will take the court with the mindset that anything can happen.
“I think it’s important for all of us to just relax,” Trgovich said. “We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We know what we need to do.”
