Wisconsin Tennis Extends Perfect Season to Six Wins

Wisconsin women's tennis entered Saturday's doubleheader with a perfect record and left with one intact. The Badgers defeated Bradley and Green Bay with identical 7-0 scores, moving to 6-0 on the season.

The team set the tone in the doubles round, where every Wisconsin pair won their matches. Freshman MaryAnn Rompf and senior Kelsey Grambeau defeated Theresa Tebon and Tallie Piaskowski 6-1. Sophomore Melissa Pick and freshman Lexi Keberle followed with a 6-0 victory over Maria Neff and Samm Pedersen.

No Wisconsin player dropped a set in singles. Keberle, playing at first singles, beat Tebon 6-1, 6-1. Her performance extends her individual record to 7-0 in both singles and doubles. Rompf won the second singles match against Piaskowski 6-3, 6-1, while Michelle Linden took the third singles match against Sterre Tijssens 6-1, 6-0.

Pick shut out Neff 6-0, 6-0 in the fourth singles match. Christina Zordani closed out the day by defeating Pedersen 6-0, 6-1 at fifth singles. Zordani now holds a 5-0 record in singles this season. Green Bay fielded only five players for the second match, leaving them short-handed against the Badgers.

Head coach Kelcy McKenna attributed the win to the team's focus on controllable factors. "They did a great job with the controlables: their attitude, their effort and their energy," McKenna said. "Those three things are extremely important to our success."

McKenna noted that the team must continue refining specific skills to prepare for the indoor season. She emphasized the need to improve doubles serves and returns, stating, "We need to do a little bit of a better job cleaning up our doubles in terms of serves and returns, making sure that we're the first team to be aggressive, also making sure we're hitting our spots on service plays."

The Badgers will attempt to extend their unbeaten streak at the National Team Indoor Championship, scheduled for Feb. 9-12 at home.