The women’s tennis team won 8-1 over Wartburg College (Iowa) and 9-0 against St. Norbert College (DePere) Saturday at McPhee Physical
Education Center.

Senior Taylor Heltne and junior Katie Gillman won both of their No. 1 doubles matches Saturday. The duo went 8-1 against Wartburg College and ended the day with a 8-2 win over St. Norbert College.

Heltne said the girls are trying to figure out the “quirks” as a team and working on trying to become
“one team.”

“We are a lot deeper as a team, everyone is pushing each other and we all get better that way,” Heltne said.

Head Coach Tom Gillman said the team in the past has been very young. He said he is proud now that the older girls are really capable of leading the rest of the team this season.

“(We) definitely have some things we’re trying to work at, we showed progress this weekend for sure, movement being one of those things,” Gillman said.

He also said this tournament was good for the team in more ways than one.

“We became more successful as the weekend went on. ITA will be a great opportunity to get sharper and more matches in,” Gillman said. “The team took a big step last year at this tournament: we have a great chance for individuals to have to advance and gain more confidence.”

There were wins on almost every court Saturday for the Blugolds, with senior Gretchen Bachmeier winning both her matches in No. 3 singles.

She first beat freshman
Katherine Ross from Wartburg 6-0 and later in the day had 6-1 and 6-0 wins over St. Norbert’s senior Maria Slusarek.

Katie Gillman, the women’s No. 2 single, also won both her single matches Saturday. She defeated freshman Melissa Davis from Wartburg 6-1, 6-1, later beating junior Ariel Bloniarz from St. Norbert, 6-2, 6-0.

The team, including a total of 10 girls, had a tough beginning to their season when they matched up with UW-Whitewater at the end of August.

Saturday’s tennis match up may have been against a non-conference foe, but it sets them up well for what they have coming up.

It was a great way for them to get ready for one of the biggest tournaments of the season.

The ITA Midwest Regional Championships will be held at Michigan State University in October. It is a very tough couple of days with nonstop singles and doubles matches, Heltne said.

With Saturday’s wins, it “leads us in the right direction going into the ITA,” Heltne said. “I’m proud of the team, we didn’t play for a week and a half, it was good to get back out on the court. Everyone looked good out there.”