For the Wisconsin women’s tennis team, spring break provided a winning trifecta of matches, as the No. 45 Badgers first ventured to California where they handled the University of Texas – El Paso Miners 7-0 before coming home to kick off their Big Ten season in earnest with a duo of victories against the No. 75 Michigan State Spartans and No. 39 Michigan Wolverines, 5-2 and 4-3, respectively.
“Against UTEP, it was our first match outdoors basically since some time in October,” head coach Patti Henderson said. “I felt good about the transition from going indoors to outdoors. It was a good match to start off with; we had control of the match.”
The Michigan State match kicked off with the Spartans claiming the doubles point, despite Caitlin Burke and Kaylan Caiati sweeping the second flight 8-0 against Karen Gustafson and Pascale Schnitzer.
“I felt that at No. 2 doubles, we did a really good job. I don’t know that they’ve won a match 8-0 all year long,” Henderson said. “I think they did a great job. At one and three [flights], we didn’t handle their pace as well as we need to.”
Against Michigan, the doubles point also went the visitors’ way, but only after a trio of tightly contested matches. Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata handled Katie McGaffigan and Lindsay Martin 8-5 in first flight doubles, while Leanne Rutherford and Allie Shafner took Burke and Caiati 9-8 (5), and Debra Streifler and Elizabeth Exon beat Chelsea Nusslock and Nicole Beck 9-8 (5) as well.
“Despite losing the doubles point, it was the first time all year against a ranked team where we’ve really been in a position,” Henderson said. “I felt like we actually had three teams show up on the same day and play well, and I felt good about that.”
The Badgers’ victory over the Spartans came thanks to victories by Burke, Martin, Caiati, Beck and Nusslock on the singles front. Burke and Beck enjoyed two of the day’s more contentious matches, as each saw a series of questionable line calls.
“A lot of matches are pretty intense I guess, and they’re feisty — definitely,” Burke said. “But it just makes it better for us — we want to win even more then.”
For Nusslock, a decisive 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Spartans’ Sarah Andrews marked her 8th consecutive win and first homestand since being named Big Ten Player of the Week.
“I think it’s an honor,” Nusslock said of the conference kudo. “I didn’t expect it.”
But Nusslock’s streak would come to an end against the Wolverines, as she fell 7-6 (4), 6-0 to Nina Yaftali.
With that loss, the Badgers’ found themselves down 0-3 against Michigan, having already dropped the doubles point and with Beck having lost 6-2, 6-2 to Streifler, rendering the team in danger of losing the Big Ten showdown with one more singles loss.
But the Badgers’ older players came through strong, as No. 100-ranked Burke quickly dispensed of Exon 6-0, 6-2, and Caiati followed shortly thereafter with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Rutherford. To clinch the victory, Martin and McGaffigan would each have to fight back from deficits against Delicata and DaCosta, respectively. Each did, with Martin winning 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (3) and McGaffigan claiming her match 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“For both of them, they’ve had a tougher year than they would have liked to have had, and I think their … perseverance in these situations and finally believing was huge, both for Lindsay to win from 3-0 down and for Katie to win,” Henderson said.
The Badgers return to action Tuesday against Notre Dame, their last home match before venturing to Penn State and Indiana next weekend.
“I think Notre Dame is going to be the same type of match [as Michigan]: we got to show up, we got to fight hard, and we got to just keep believing and staying in there and things are going to happen your way,” Henderson said.
