The Wisconsin women’s tennis team (9-11, 4-5 Big Ten) defeated the 40th-ranked Michigan Wolverines (12-7, 5-4 Big Ten) 5-2 Saturday to record its second-straight win and third in the last four matches.
The Badgers won the doubles point with wins at the one and three spots by Linde Mues (Hofstade, Belgium) and Lindsay Martin (Newburgh, Ind.), and Katie McGaffigan (Davenport, Iowa) and Teresa Gonzaga (Eau Claire, Wis.), respectively. At singles, the UW women won at the two, three, four and five positions to notch the win.
Mues and Martin defeated the Wolverines’ Michelle DaCosta and Leann Rutherford, 8-6 to win their third match (in the last four) at one doubles since being paired up for the April 6 match against Iowa. McGaffigan and Gonzaga improve to 4-0 with their 8-4 win Saturday afternoon.
Playing at four singles, Martin put UW up 2-0 with her 6-0, 6-0 win over Kavitha Tipirneni. UM pulled to within a point at 2-1 when Gonzaga dropped a tight 7-5, 7-6(8) match to Debra Streifler. UW responded by winning the next three matches with Lara Vojnov (Toronto, Ontario) beating Kim Plaushines (7-6, 7-6(6)), Shana McElroy (Alpharetta, Ga.) defeating Chrissie Nolan (6-3, 6-3) and McGaffigan coming through with the match-clinching win at the No. 3 spot with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Leann Rutherford.
The Badgers close out the 2003 regular season Sunday afternoon at Nielsen Tennis Stadium with a match against Michigan State (8-12, 0-8). The Big Ten Championships are next Thursday through Sunday, April 24-27, in Champaign, Ill.
— compiled from staff reports