[media-credit name=’AJ MACLEAN/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]The No. 33 Wisconsin women’s tennis split a pair of closely contested weekend conference matches, falling 4-3 to No. 54 Illinois Saturday before flipping the score on No. 50 Purdue Sunday. The difference between the two contests for the Badgers was the same doubles point that has proven all-too elusive this season, with Wisconsin dropping it to the Illini before snagging it against the Boilermakers en route to victory.

“We’ve been knocking on the door [for] the last three [doubles] points, and been so close and to finally get that doubles point was just great because it just shows their resilience and that they’re going to go out there, and they’re going to fight, and they’re going to continue to try to find a way,” head coach Patti Henderson said after the Purdue victory. “And we found a way to get that point today.”

Against Illinois, the Badgers’ third-flight doubles team of Nicole Beck and Chelsea Nusslock defeated Momei Qu and Pavlina Akritas 8-4 while Wisconsin’s second squad of Lindsay Martin and Kaylan Caiati fell 8-5 to Brianna Knue and Macall Harkins. With the doubles affair split at one point apiece, all eyes turned to the top court where Katie McGaffigan and Caitlin Burke were representing the Badgers against Cynthya Goulet and Emily Wang.

The first break of the contest came in the third game when the Illini went up 2-1, but the Badgers quickly responded claiming the next serve. There were two more breaks in the next eight games — with one going to each team. From there each team held until the affair knotted at eight games apiece. In the ensuing tiebreaker, the Illini went up 5-1 before Wisconsin battled back with the next three points, highlighted by an ace from McGaffigan, bringing the score to 5-4 in favor of Illinois. But Wisconsin could only claim one of the next three points, dropping the tiebreak 7-5 and losing the set 9-8(5), giving Illinois the doubles point.

The second and third flight matches fell the same way Sunday, but this time McGaffigan and Burke would avoid the spotlight by quickly handling Purdue’s Lara Bugarello and Shawna Zuccarini 8-3 in a match that started off with the Badgers taking a clean sweep of the initial round of serves and going up 4-0.

On the singles front, Wisconsin needed four matches out of six to claim victory against Illinois and came up one short with only No. 83 Burke, Caiati and Nusslock proving winners on the day. But the Badgers would need only three singles points to emerge victorious Sunday.

Caiati was the first Wisconsin winner off the court against Purdue, making quick work of Brooke Beier 6-4, 6-1. The next successful Badger was Martin, a senior, who made the most of her final home match by coming up with a decisive 6-4, 6-3 win over Shawna Zuccarini.

“I haven’t had too many [wins] in the past couple of weeks,” Martin said. “So I guess if I had to come have one anytime, this was a good time to have it.”

With Nusslock, Lexi Goldin and McGaffigan coming up short in their matches, attention shifted to Burke’s match against Stephanie Wooten, which, by the time Nusslock finished the penultimate contest, was only half-way through its second set. Burke had claimed the first frame 6-4 before falling behind in the second set 4-1.

From there, Burke rallied, holding serve to bring the affair to 4-2 before breaking Wooten in the following game and then holding serve to tie the set at 4-4. The players proceeded to trade games until Burke found herself down 6-5 needing to hold serve to bring the matter to a tiebreak. When the 12th game knotted at deuce, things became eerily similar to the first game of the players’ first set when Burke would force the matter to deuce nine times en route to breaking Wooten.

But this time the game ended quickly, as Burke claimed the first advantage and Wooten returned a shot into the net on the ensuing point. In the tiebreaker, it was all Burke, as the Badger sophomore went up 4-0 before ceding a single point. Then, at 6-1, Wooten double-faulted to give Burke the second set and Wisconsin a collective victory on the day.

“I definitely did not want to go into a third set,” Burke said. “I was getting tired toward the end, so I really picked up the momentum in the last few games.”