URBANA, Ill. — Shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, the Wisconsin women's tennis team's season came to an end. Sophomore Chelsea Nusslock returned a shot from Michigan's Nina Yaftali long, and with that, the Wolverines clinched a 4-1 victory over the Badgers in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.
The 11th-seeded Wisconsin squad had advanced to the quarterfinals Thursday with an upset 4-0 victory over the sixth-seeded Michigan State Spartans. But Michigan, holding the third rank in the tournament, simply proved too much for a Badger team it had handled 7-0 in Ann Arbor just a month before.
"I didn't wake up this morning excepting this was going to be the end of the year," head coach Patti Henderson said. "We fought Michigan much, much better than when we played them at their place a month ago. We were close."
And in true form, Henderson didn't anticipate the Wolverines marking the end of the road for the Badgers at the Big Ten tournament here in Illinois. In telling fashion, the team had to make one pit-stop before leaving town and heading back to Madison Friday night: The players and coaches had yet to check out of their hotel rooms.
The Badgers' lone point on the day came from team ace Caitlin Burke who made quick work of Kara Delicata with a 6-2, 6-0 victory that brought the top flight Wisconsin player to a perfect 3-0 record after returning from an injury that sidelined her for nearly two months. In all three matches since retaking the court, Burke has claimed a perfect second set score.
"I'm slowly getting my confidence back each and every match I play," Burke said. "I think I'm getting a lot more confidence, and I'm starting to feel as good as I did before I got injured."
And though the team's season is now over, Burke looks to the official NCAA tournament singles selections this week, as she will likely be invited to compete in the national invitational as a solo player.
"None of the wins she got [at the Big Ten tournament] really help her cause per se, but I think she's done the work — she's done the work in the fall, she did the work in the early [spring] semester in terms of getting the wins she needed to get into the tournament," Henderson said.
For Wisconsin, the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals started on a negative note as the Wolverines claimed the day's doubles point with 8-6 victories on both the second and third courts, as the duo of Kaylan Caiati and Erin Jobe dropped to Lindsey Howard and Yaftali while Nusslock and Morgan Tuttle fell to Chisako Sugiyama and Allie Shaftner. Burke and Elizabeth Carpenter were knotted at 7-7 with Delicata and Debra Steifler when doubles play ended.
"In terms of the outcome of today's match, the doubles point was pretty crucial — just for the confidence, not so much that we couldn't find a way to win four matches," Henderson said. "We've been struggling all year long to find our confidence with every single person. Some people have had it one day and then not the next. It's been hard for us to get everybody confident on the same page."
In singles play, Carpenter fell 6-3, 6-1 and Jobe dropped 6-1, 6-2 to Howard in the day's other completed matches. Caiati's meet with Elizabeth Exon was abandoned early in the second set, while Tuttle and Sugiyama also departed the court early as their second frame heated up with the Wolverine leading 5-4 after a 6-2 victory in the first set.
As per Big Ten tournament rules, all play is suspended once the deciding point of the match has been determined.
The Badgers now say goodbye to senior Lexi Goldin and look to three new athletes joining the squad in the fall. In wake of a spring 2006 season that was disappointing by most accounts, there is optimism heading into next year.
"The biggest thing is that every single one of these ladies has to recognize — and I think they do recognize — the steps forward that they've made, the progress that they've made, the improvements that they've made while being aware of their liabilities and not running away from that shadow," Henderson said. "If they're willing to confront that aspect of themselves, knowing that they've improved in other aspects, then I think that this whole season — and the struggles we've had this season — will bear fruit, so to speak, for next year."
After two years of covering women's tennis at Wisconsin, this marks Mac VerStandig's final article on the beat. He'd like to thank the players, coaches, parents and athletic department officials who have helped him along the way.
