The No. 36-ranked Wisconsin women’s tennis team (3-2) opens Big Ten conference play this weekend by hosting No. 5-ranked Northwestern at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Badgers hope to continue their winning ways after knocking off No. 24 New Mexico in their last match. However, the Wildcats will provide quite a test.
Northwestern enters the contest coming off a 2-1 showing last weekend at the ITA Indoor Team Championships in Madison with their only loss coming at the hands of then-No. 13 Georgia.
The Wildcats boast a strong line-up with three players ranked among the top 50 singles players in the country, including the nations’ No. 1 player, freshman Audra Cohen, and No. 4-ranked junior Cristelle Grier.
In last weekend’s ITA’s Cohen struggled in her first match, losing to No. 10 Shadisha Robinson of Georgia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 before rebounding to defeat New Mexico’s Maja Kovacek, No. 24 nationally, and Maria Ivanov of Tulane, both in straight sets.
Grier endured a fate similar to her teammate’s, dropping her first match, 4-6, 6-1,7-5 to No. 39 Natalie Frazier of Georgia, then returning to the court to pick up victories over No. 66 Iva Gersic and Jenny Kuhn of New Mexico and Tulane, respectively.
Despite some small struggles last weekend, Wisconsin still holds the Northwestern duo in high esteem.
“Northwestern has two of the very best players in the country,” said head coach Patti Henderson. “And they combine to form the very best doubles team, but what makes Northwestern very good is the depth which they have.”
The Badgers also face a challenge in doubles as Cohen and Grier combine to form the No. 1 doubles team in the country. However the nation’s top-ranked team struggled at the ITA’s last weekend. The duo dropped their first two matches against Georgia and New Mexico before finally picking up the win over Tulane’s No. 49 pairing of Maria and Darya Ivanov. The Badgers will attempt to counter back with their own No. 27-ranked duo of seniors Katie McGaffigan and Lindsay Martin.
Coach Henderson realizes the Badgers must capitalize on their opportunities to knock off the Wildcats.
“When you play a team that is as good as Northwestern, you have to recognize that you most likely will have fewer windows of opportunity in the match,” said Henderson. “They are going to be harder to come by. And yet when you get them, you have to capitalize on them.”
But she also realizes the Badgers have to believe they can win before they can put themselves in position to do so.
“We have to believe that we can beat them,” said Henderson. “And that is certainly easier said than done, but we have to believe that.”
Playing a team as good as the Wildcats this early in the Big Ten season gives the Badgers a chance to see where they stand thus far into the season. It also gives the team a chance to beat one of the nation’s top squads.
“You relish those opportunities [to beat the best],” said Henderson. “As an athlete you want that. You want to be able to play against the best. You want opportunities against the best. That gives you a measuring stick of where you are individually.”
