The ITA tournament Midwest Open is a weekend filled with some of the best Division III tennis teams and players in the area. Competitors included Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.), UW-Whitewater, UW-Lacrosse and many other top ranked Midwest teams.

UW-Eau Claire head coach Tom Gillman said the team put on their best performance at an ITA tournament ever, consistency wise, despite facing tough competition all weekend.

In the ITA main draw bracket, senior captain Maddie Johnson, one of the top-seeded women in the tournament, was able to make it to the round of 16, a personal best for her career.

Overall, four finalists in the singles flights competed well. Olivia Gallagher, Renee Nelson, Amy Orthaus and Brooke Volpone all competed, and Nelson, Orthaus and Volpone arose out of their final matches.

Johnson said not only did the team perform well, but they also were able to learn a thing or two from the experience.

“Our team learned a lot from this weekend,” Johnson said. “Everyone was able to play a lot of matches, which gave everyone the opportunity to work on things and apply them to match situations.”

Along with the success in singles, the doubles team consisting of Nelson and Gallagher won the final consolation match in the Midwest Open.

The Blugolds now have over a week to prepare for upcoming matches over homecoming weekend Oct. 3 and 4 against UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh.

Gillman said over the week off the team will dissect the matches over this past weekend to prepare for the rest of the season.

“In order to improve, we are just going to focus on the areas that were problematic and put the girls in situations on the court that they struggled in,” he said.