On Saturday, Sept. 14, the UW-Eau Claire women’s tennis team traveled to UW-Whitewater to face the Warhawks.

The team was coming into Saturday’s match with a winning streak from their WIAC match the previous weekend, where they swept the competition with two 9-0 wins against UW-River Falls and UW-Stout. 

The Blugolds lost their streak at UW-Whitewater when the match resulted in an 8-1 loss.

First-year Reese Burton said the team felt prepared to come into a more difficult match after their double win last weekend.

“When I got onto the court, I was faced with very competitive and highly motivated players compared to last weekend,” Burton said.

According to fourth-year mathematics major Anna Lee, the team had anticipated the bar to be raised for this match. 

“Our team fought hard in the match, but, ultimately, we were not in our mid- or end-of-season form yet,” Lee said.

In the No.1 doubles match, Lee and fourth-year Samantha Fuchs were defeated with a score of 8-2. Following that, Burton and first-year Beatriz Felchak gained an early lead in their No.2 doubles match, but eventually fell with a final score of 8-6.

“Obviously, we went into the match wanting to win, but I am proud of the way everyone competed and battled until the end, regardless of the score,” Lee said.  

The Warhawks eventually swept the doubles matches by defeating third-year Liv Herzog and fourth-year Morgan Dekan, with a score of 8-5.

“I felt ups and downs from this match,” Dekan said. “It was certainly different from our last few. Going into our next match, we will work a lot on our doubles play, including poaching and trying to be more aggressive at the net while being consistent at the baseline.”

In the No.1 singles match, Fuchs made it to a tiebreaker set but fell in the end with a resulting score of 10-7.

The only Blugold victory of the day was achieved by Lee in the No.2 singles. She also ended up in a tiebreaker set but was able to come out on top with a 10-5 win on the last set.

Herzog, Felchak, Dekan and Burton all lost in their respective singles matches to their Warhawk opponents.

Head Coach Kenneth Cychosz said that the team has many players in new positions and he is confident they will all continue to improve.

“Though our freshmen performed well for their first big match, Lee and Fuchs were exceptional in the singles,” Cychosz said. 

From Friday, Sept. 20 to Sunday, Sept. 22, the Blugolds will be playing in St. Peters, Minnesota for the Midwest ITA Regional Tournament.

“We were each able to take away our own individual things to work on moving into the next match,” Lee said. “It really comes down to having confidence, believing in ourselves and trusting that all the work we’ve put in has prepared us for match day.” 

Matczak can be reached at [email protected].