After losing its first match of the spring season Friday against DePaul, the women’s tennis team rebounded with a win over Wisconsin, 5-2.
The Wolfpack put the Badgers away easily in doubles play, sweeping all three matches. In singles play, sophomore Sandhya Nagaraj had no trouble taking down Katya Mirnova 6-1 and 6-2. Nagaraj’s win put the Pack up 2-0 on the day and it looked liked State would run away with the team win. But Wisconsin managed to battle back in a number of single matches.
After taking the first match 6-2, senior Berkley Brock battled back from a 3-5 deficit to defeat Aleksandra Markovic 6-2, 7-5, earning State its third point.
Brock, who was back in action after spending time nursing a foot injury, said Sunday’s match was similar to Friday’s loss to DePaul.
“I win the first set, them I’m up 3-0 serving and nerves kind of kick in because it’s the second match I’ve played this season,” Brock said. “So it’s going to be some getting used to. But I refocused towards the end.”
The contest came down to senior Daria Petrovic, who lost her first set 2-6, but managed to win her next two sets and the match for State 6-1, 6-3.
Coach Hans Olsen said the seniors showed their leadership in their matches.
“Berk had to work really hard to finish her match in straight sets,” Olsen said. “Daria lost a set and came out strong in the beginning of the second set. She just kept her focus all the way to the end. That was big, the seniors getting the third and deciding point. It showed great leadership.”
Junior Lenka Hojckova gave State its final singles win of the day, beating Jessica Seyferth 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Hojckova said the match wasn’t unfolding the way she wanted it to.
“I was kind of nervous about it,” Hojckova said. “I won the first set but then the second set didn’t go my way. But in the third set, I wasn’t sure if the team had already won, so I was like ‘oh gosh, I just have to keep fighting’, then it paid off.”
Olsen felt his team made advances and learned a lot.
“We had trouble focusing,” Olsen said. “The girls would play good for a game or two and then they would kind of lose their focus for a game or two. I thought DePaul did a nice job of being competitive and they were much tougher than us. We had to do better with what we had control over. It wasn’t perfect today, but it was a step forward.”
