The top 15 women’s tennis teams in the nation will travel to Madison for the ITA Team Indoor Championship Feb. 13-16 at the Nielson Tennis Stadium.
The Badgers are hosting this event for the 22nd time, and as the host they are privileged to face the toughest competition in NCAA. The team will face off against No. 9 Duke on Friday and will play two subsequent matches throughout the weekend.
The Nielson Tennis Stadium has been home to this tournament since 1988, and the team is proud its courts are on display at the highest level. No. 1 singles player, Elizabeth Carpenter, loves that this prestigious tournament visits her stadium every year.
“It’s great to have everyone come to our home courts, our atmosphere, our weather,” she said. “It’s really fun to have everyone come here and see how we do it. It’s awesome.”
“They get to take some pride in their school and their facility,” UW head coach Brian Fleishman added.
The team praised the university in its efforts to continue supporting women’s athletics at UW, particularly the tennis program.
“The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department has committed themselves to women’s athletics,” Fleishman said. “This is their way of saying, ‘Women’s athletics is strong, it needs to be supported around the country, and more schools need to have tournaments like these, in any sport, not just tennis.'”
“Wisconsin has a great athletic program, and we really host the tournament well, and I think we’ve hosted it well every year,” Carpenter added.
During the four-day tournament, Wisconsin will face some of the best competition the country has to offer, but the Badgers aren’t intimidated.
“We’re going to be surrounded by amazing players so it’s basically the best opportunity you could ever ask for,” Carpenter said. “Everyone should go out there and play with all their heart, just go for it with the mentality of you have nothing to lose.”
The No. 68 Badgers are not scared of the competition. Instead, they see playing against quality teams as a privilege.
“It provides us with three quality matches we normally wouldn’t have gotten on our schedule,” Fleishman said. “It allows us to see where we are, what we need to work on, and where we want to go.”
The women’s team will play its first match against No. 8 Duke Friday morning at 9 a.m.
“We’re looking forward to playing Duke, and we’ll go out there and leave it on the court on Friday and see where it takes us,” Fleishman said. “Win or lose, I think we’ll become a better team.
The tournament will include the nation’s 18 best squads. All of these teams will be competing for the first time against one another, and while the top teams are expected to advance, the field is so talent-rich that any team could come out on top.
“All these girls have intentions of being top 15 players nationally and of making this team a top 15 team, and they’re going to see it this weekend and be able to measure themselves up, see where we stand.”
