The Eau Claire women’s tennis team defeated UW-River Falls 9-0 on Tuesday, improving their record to 6-3 in the season and 4-1 in the WIAC.

The victory proved to players that the team deserves to stay optimistic for a strong finish to the season.

“I am extremely proud of the girls,” said sophomore Taylor Heltne. “We did a lot of things well during our match which only help us continue to grow and improve as a team going down to the final two weeks of the season.”

The Blugolds dropped solid performances from beginning to end; the win was the team’s sixth out of their last seven dual competitions.

“I’m really happy with the way we finished,” said head coach Tom Gillman. “We had some blips, but for the most part really put the pedal to the metal – it went really well.”

Highlights of the day include the no. 2 doubles team of Heltne and freshman Katie Gillman defeating their Falcon opponents, 8-0; the no. 3 doubles team of sophomore Gretchen Bachmeier and freshman Mary Frassetto did the same.

Leading the team in doubles at no. 1 were junior Emily Hiebl and junior Megan Born, who picked up an 8-1 win over River Falls.

“I was really happy with how I played my doubles match,” Heltne said. “My partner (Gillman) and I never let our opponents get comfortable.”

In singles play, where Heltne represents the no. 2 spot, her Falcon opponent put up a fight. Despite the initial difficulty, though, Heltne secured a 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 victory.

The other matches – similar to the trend of the day – were easily won by the rest of the team.

“We’ve been prepping all year and working hard,” Gillman said. “I can tell our confidence keeps growing every week.”

Looking to the future, Heltne says the team needs to keep doing what it’s currently doing to prepare for the WIAC Championship on Oct. 23-24 in Madison.

“The tournament (in Madison) is huge,” she said. “But it’s very important to be ready to play. We spend a lot of time preparing mentally as individuals as well as a team, because having the right mind set in the conference tournament is part of doing well.”

Based on the team’s preparations, Heltne feels their opponents will be surprised at what they find.

“I see our team being the ‘dark horse’ in the conference tournament,” she said. “I think we have a great chance of being top three.”

Coach Gillman shares Heltne’s optimism.

“I’m not really one for future projections,” he said with a laugh. “But I just hope we’re as ambitious at the end as we have been so far. We haven’t been afraid to shoot for the stars.”