For head coach Tom Gillman, having fun and playing hard rather than focusing so much on wins and losses is a mentality his team has taken and rolled with this season.

Even after winning seven consecutive matches coming into this past weekend, the UW-Eau Claire women’s tennis team continued to play and practice with level heads Gillman said, but came up short after losing one of their two matches over the weekend.

The Blugolds started off the weekend right on Friday, beating Winona State University (Minn.) 7-2, but fell in a close duel with conference opponent UW-La Crosse 5-4 on Saturday.

Junior Paige Kuepers said she attributes the teams strong play of late simply to the hard work that has been put in over the season.

“I just think the fact that we all came so ready to play was a huge factor in our success over the past few weekends,” Kuepers said. “We have high intensity practices and we really work on our overall consistency, especially at the net. Everybody is moving well, playing their game and even having fun.”

In singles play, senior Maddie Rossebo a continued to show dominance and growth according to Gillman, winning both of her matches this weekend.

At the No. 4 slot, Rossebo won 6-2, 6-0 Friday and followed that with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Saturday.

In the No. 6 spot, freshman Sarah Henderson picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win Friday and then won 6-4, 6-2 Saturday.

Despite the success in singles matches, senior Renee Nelson believes that there are still some small areas for improvement.

“For our team movement is key, and another thing we can work on is decisiveness’” Nelson said. “Always knowing where we’re going with the ball right away and having it planned out in your head where you going, down the line, cross court, lob, drop shot.”

Two doubles teams also picked up victories in both of their matches this weekend.

The No. 2 pair of senior Nicole Pothen and Kuepers won 8-6 Friday night and then won 8-2 against La Crosse on Saturday.

The No. 3 combination of junior Colleen McCullough and Henderson won 8-1 Friday and 9-8 (13-11) on Saturday.

Gillman said that a lot can be taken away from the matches this past weekend and that they can’t hang their heads on a loss.

“This past weekend our doubles play continued to improve dramatically,” He said. “We have come a long way during the season, and we know we will be right there with the top teams if we can continue to make the small adjustments.”

Eau Claire is now 7-2 on the season and 4-2 in the conference as they finished up conference play this past weekend.

Last on the fall schedule for the Blugolds is the WIAC Championship, a tournament hosting all WIAC teams starting athletes in singles and doubles.

Gillman said that his squad has been preparing for the tournament like any other, except for a few things.

“Over this next week to prepare we won’t be changing much because we already know what we need to do,” He said. “We will highlight small adjustments, and also we will continue to work on our fitness but keep our players fresh,”

The Blugolds will be off this weekend, and will continue to prepare next week before competing at the WIAC Championship Oct. 25-26. in Madison.