The women’s tennis team fell in both of their home matches over the windy weekend to conference opponents UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater.

In their first match last weekend, the Blugolds faced La Crosse. Several of the women’s single matches went into a third set, and after the long match, the Blugolds fell 4-5.

“It was very close,” sophomore Mary Frassetto said. “We had a lot of third setters that could’ve gone both way and I believe five of those could’ve gone our way.”

Frassetto was on one of the two doubles teams that saw wins last Saturday. She and sophomore Lexi DeMario combined for a very close 9-8 win in their No. 3 doubles match. Sophomore Katie Gillman and junior Taylor Heltne racked up a win of 8-3 in their No. 1 doubles match.

Frassetto said she was happy with how she and her team played this weekend.

“I’ve made a breakthrough in a lot of things,” she said. “And I feel more mentally strong than I have these past few weeks and so it’s been more fun to play. It’s nice to know there’s a lot of support from my teammates to back me up.”

In singles matches, junior Gretchen Bachmeier and Gillman both gained wins for Eau Claire with Bachmeier winning 6-4, 6-0 and Gillman having 7-6 and 6-3.

Head coach Tom Gillman said that despite the losses the women faced this weekend, he is still feeling confident in his team.

“On paper, you want to win if you can,” coach Gillman said. “We played two tough teams and they were able to beat us this weekend, but our team continues to compete very hard and give 100 percent.”

The Blugolds started their weekend out at 8-2, 4-0 on the season, but after the second loss of the weekend to Whitewater, the women dropped to 8-4 on the season and to 4-2 in the WIAC.

Eau Claire’s sole win on Sunday was a doubles match played by Heltne and Gillman. They won their match 8-4.

The only Blugold to take a singles match into a third set was Bachmeier as she faced Whitewater’s Annie Smith. Bachmeier took the first set 1-6, but eventually lost her match as Smith took the second and third sets with 6-1 and 6-0.

Freshman Maddie Johnson, who had fought through three sets in her singles match during Saturday’s La Crosse game and eventually fell with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, said she thought Sunday’s game didn’t go as well.

“I’m bummed about the loss,” Johnson said. “I think I played OK, but not my best. There were some really close games for us. I think almost everybody went to deuce, so it was a long, long match. “

Johnson fell in her singles match on Sunday 1-6, 1-6.

The long match was accompanied by a cold and fierce wind, a factor that wasn’t easy for the women to forget as they played, Johnson said.

“The wind’s not fun,” she said. “It’s hard to serve and a lot of the balls go crazy. And you have a lot more movement on the court.”

Frassetto agreed, but added that the wind’s not always a bad thing.

“Well it definitely effects your serve and it makes you move your feet a lot  more,” she said. “But it also works to your advantage because you know the other team is going through the same thing. So there are advantages and disadvantages. And especially since we played La Crosse in the wind we already had kind of a head start.”

After the windy weekend, Frassetto said she is looking forward to taking on Whitewater again in Madison this weekend during the WIAC Championship tournament. coach Gillman added that the losses will only prepare the team
for conference.

“Sometimes  you face tough opponents and we can’t get better unless we play those opponents,” Coach Gillman said. “The  biggest thing for us is learning from these tough matches and trying to put that on the court in the conference tournament.”