Over the past weekend, the Blugolds Women’s Tennis team competed in the 2015 USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships in St. Peter, Minnesota.

The tournament, which was hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) included some of the top-ranked tennis squads in the region including last years national champions, UW-Whitewater.

Among these top-ranked teams, the tournament included more than 100 players in the region. Three of the top four singles seeds were athletes from the WIAC.

The Blugolds knew the challenge they had in front of them coming in head coach Tom Gillman said. The winners of the singles and doubles competitions earn a spot in the USTA/ITA National Small College Championship in Sumter, South Carolina.

Gillman said that he was very happy with how the team competed over the weekend and took a step in the right direction.

“I was extremely happy with how we played,” Gillman said. “I saw much improvement in leadership and communication.”

A number of players stepped up this past weekend, Gillman said he was pleased with how all his players played, especially Junior Olivia Gallagher.

“Olivia had a great weekend. She had a few signature and career wins, which was great to see,” Gillman said.

Improvement has been a theme of the Blugolds thus far this season Coach Gillman said, along with the team emphasis to improve doubles which the Blugolds were able to do over the weekend.

“All of our doubles teams won the first two rounds. I haven’t seen that before in the time I’ve coached here,” Gillman said.

The Blugolds don’t have another competition for two weeks. That being said, they have time to breakdown weaknesses and improve in specific aspects of their game Gillman said.

“These next weeks of practice will be important for us to put more work into our singles play as we look to improve,” Gillman said.

The Blugolds compete next at 3:00 PM on October 7th against Winona State.