[media-credit name=’AJ MACLEAN/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]For the third time in four days, the No. 35 Wisconsin women’s tennis team came from behind Tuesday evening to steal a victory away from its visiting opponents, as the squad emerged victorious 4-3 over No. 28 Notre Dame.

After the doubles point went the Fighting Irish’s way and the first five singles matches split 3-2 in favor of the Badgers, all eyes turned to the fifth-seed court, where a third set was just getting underway. After an exhausting final frame highlighted by 13 deuces, two match points for Notre Dame and three broken serves, freshman Nicole Beck proved the Badgers’ hero on the day, defeating Sarah Jane Connelly 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

“I think it just shows that they’re not going to give up. None of them are going to give up. And when their back’s against the wall, they’re going to just keep fighting,” head coach Patti Henderson said. “[Nicole Beck] did a phenomenal job of stepping up in that third set and playing some really big points, especially toward the end of the third set and that was great.”

The match was knotted at three points apiece for Wisconsin and Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish’s Liz Donohue beat freshman Chelsea Nusslock 6-4, 7-5 in a tightly contested showdown. Attention then shifted to the No. 5 court, where the third set of the Beck vs. Connelly match had just gotten underway, with Beck holding serve in the first game.

The match stayed tight until the fifth game, when Connelly finally broke Beck coming off of two deuces, moving ahead 3-2 in the deciding set. Beck immediately challenged back, taking her Notre Dame opponent to four deuces in the sixth game before ceding to her serve and going down 2-4.

Each player continued to hold her serve until the 10th game of the set, when Connelly, leading 5-4 in the game count, went up 40-15, forcing Beck to face a double match point. But Beck claimed the next three points before a series of lengthy volleys, and back-and-forth winning shots landed the potentially deciding 10th game in its fifth deuce. From there, Beck took one final advantage before reclaiming the broken serve and tying the affair at five games apiece.

Beck proceeded to hold her own serve, going ahead 6-5. When the ball returned to Connelly for the 12th game of the third set, the Notre Dame player was already visibly tired and loudly shouting at herself. When the first point of the new game ended in a tight line call deemed out by Beck — who had a close view and pointed to a ball mark on the court — and the call was defended by the presiding umpire, Connelly seemed to become ever-more flustered, loudly contesting the matter.

Beck won three of the next four points, breaking her opponent for the second time in a row and claiming the decisive third set as the final prong in a Badger victory on the day.

“It wasn’t going to happen — I never thought I was going to lose,” Beck said, adding of the contentious call, “I saw it was wide, and I knew she was going to freak out.”

Coming off of three games over spring break, Beck admitted to entering the Tuesday match already tired but with a mentally tough demeanor. By the time the all-important third set rolled around, she had a solid understanding of her opponent.

“I knew that she was capable of making errors, and so I just tried to stay as consistent as possible,” Beck said.

Also en route to the Badgers’ dramatic victory Tuesday, sophomores Caitlin Burke and Kaylan Caiati each notched their sixth consecutive personal victory, defeating Brook Buck 6-2, 6-0 and Christina Stastny 7-6 (4), 6-3. For Burke, the victory came on her 20th birthday and was especially notable because she and Buck are currently tied at No. 100 in the national rankings. Burke’s spin-heavy style of play and quick feet often left Buck returning shots just inches shy of clearing the net.

Caiati, conversely, points to her backcourt work as the leading aspect of her game at this phase of the season and in today’s victory.

“I stay at the baseline. I rarely go to the net,” Caiati said when asked about the strongest part of her game. “I’d say my ground strokes and just staying consistent and not trying to overpower my opponent.”

Together, Caiati and Burke also picked up the day’s only doubles victory for Wisconsin, defeating Buck and Lauren Connelly (Sarah Jane’s sister), 8-3.

The other winning Badger was Lindsay Martin, who handled Connelly 6-4, 6-1. The match marked Martin’s fourth consecutive victory, following closely on the heels of hotly contested battles against her opponents from Michigan State and Michigan over the weekend.

“She’s playing really, really solid,” Henderson said of Martin.