The University of Wisconsin women’s tennis team will head down to the IU Tennis Center this weekend to take part in the Indiana Invitational.
The Badgers will face up against three quality teams in DePaul, Western Michigan and Indiana. This will be the last fall tournament UW will compete in, and the Badgers are looking to gain confidence and experience to take with them into their spring season next semester.
Head coach Brian Fleishman has preached hard work to his team and competing until match point, not worrying about the outcome of the match but the way the match is played.
“I just want the girls to go down there and compete to the best of their ability. That’s kind of been a problem in the past,” Fleishman said. “Players weren’t giving it everything to the very end of the match; they would give it until things started going bad.
“So our objective is now to just go down to any tournament, any match, just trying to give as much effort and intensity to the very end. And win or lose, everything should be OK.”
Junior Katya Mirnova confirmed her coach’s opinion.
“I’m expecting to just come out on the court and I want to feel confident from the beginning and just think about myself, not my opponent,” Mirnova said
Fleishman mentioned the performance of Mirnova and sophomore Alaina Trgovich as emerging talents for the Badgers.
“They’re going to play the same tennis no matter who they’re against,” Fleishman said of the duo. “They’ll go out there and try everything they’re supposed to try, and they’ll fight to the end of the match.”
In Wisconsin’s last event, the ITA Regional Championship in East Lansing, Mich., Mirnova finished in the top eight of the qualifying draw before falling in the main draw. Trgovich and senior Elizabeth Carpenter also made the main draw before both also lost in their respective first rounds of the singles competition.
“At the regional event, the [player] who performed the best was Mirnova,” Fleishman said. “She understands practice and hard work on the practice court translate to good results on game day.”
Fleishman’s squad is also excited for the development of their doubles pairings. The Badgers are finding good chemistry between all the players and combining styles that lead to good duos.
“Everyone’s doubles play has gotten better,” Trgovich said.
“I think we have quality doubles teams,” Fleishman added. “We have three good combinations that can beat anybody in the country right now.
“A lot of them feel very comfortable at the net; they have good volleys, and they understand the doubles game.”
Many of the Badgers are looking forward to the weekend because it is a team tournament rather than an individual meet.
“We are looking to come up as a team actually because Regionals wasn’t a team tournament,” Mirnova said.
As for this weekend’s competition, the Badgers expect to face some talented teams.
“They are three quality teams; they all have good depth,” Fleishman said. “I want to go down there and have the players show me all the hard work they put into it this season, what they’ve accomplished, and hopefully the results will take care of themselves.”
The players echoed their coach’s expectations for the weekend.
“There’s going to be some tough competition there,” Trgovich said. “As long as we all try our hardest, there’s nothing more we can really do.
“To end [the semester] on a high note would be really good going into the main spring season,” she added.
