After closing out its season with a win over No. 60 Michigan
State, the Wisconsin women’s tennis team travels to West Lafayette, Ind.,
looking to duplicate its success in a rematch against the Spartans in the
opening round of the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament.

“It helps that we’re playing the same team we beat at
home on Sunday,” UW head coach Brian Fleishman said. “Of course, on
the road it’s always a little more difficult, but we match up extremely well
with Michigan State. I’m expecting good things.”

The Badgers are seeded 11th in the tournament after
finishing their first regular season under Fleishman with a 9-13
record, including a last-place 2-8 record against Big Ten
opponents. However, despite its less than stellar conference
standing, Wisconsin enters the postseason with plenty of momentum.

After losing their first seven Big Ten matches,
the Badgers finished the year convincingly, recording consecutive
wins over No. 47 Iowa and No. 60 Michigan State to close out the
season. With its first conference victories under its belt, UW
believes it is a far better team than its record indicates.

“We believe we can win and beat these teams,”
sophomore Katya Mirnova said. “After suffering a few losses against Big
Ten teams, these two wins gave us a lot of confidence. I believe confidence is
the most important thing you can have going into a tournament.”

Wisconsin’s first round opponent, sixth-seeded Michigan
State (12-12 overall, 3-7 Big Ten), seeks to avenge Sunday’s 5-2 defeat in
Madison. The Spartans, led by senior Christine Bader, are a tough
team capable of advancing deep into the tournament. Recently though,
Michigan State has struggled, losing its final four matches of the
season. 

Despite the clear advantage in momentum, the Badgers know
that defeating a talented Spartans team twice in a row will not be
easy. Wisconsin will need to continue to
get consistent play from key contributors such as Mirnova, senior
Chelsea Nusslock, junior Elizabeth Carpenter and senior Morgan Tuttle, in
order to advance. 

On Sunday, Wisconsin got off to a strong start by sweeping
the doubles matches and never looked back, cruising to a dominant 5-2
triumph. Fleishman emphasized the importance of reproducing Sunday’s
fast start in Thursday’s match.

“We need to get the doubles point,” Fleishman
said. “It sets everything going. We did that against [Michigan State] on
Sunday and that set the tone for the rest of the match.”

If Wisconsin is able to top Michigan
State, it would face third-seeded Indiana (19-6 overall, 8-2 Big Ten)
in the quarterfinals of the tournament. In their only matchup of the
season, the No. 30 Hoosiers shut out the Badgers. Even so,
Fleishman noted that Wisconsin was fortunate to avoid even tougher teams
until the later rounds of the tournament.

“We want to go one round at a time, but I think we have
one of the better draws out of the lower seeds,” Fleishman said. “If
we can figure out a way to beat Michigan State, then we have Indiana, the third
seed, which is better than playing Northwestern in the second
round.”

The tournament, hosted by Purdue University, is set
to run from Thursday to Sunday at the Schwartz Tennis Center.