The women's tennis team secured its first two victories of the season during Saturday's doubleheader. Marquette won both matches 6-1 at Helfaer Tennis Stadium against Northern Illinois, then Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"I was pleased with the way a lot of our players performed," said head coach Jody Bronson.

The wins could not have come at a more crucial time. The squad now stands at 2-3 heading towards the weekend when the Golden Eagles play nationally ranked Indiana.

"It was big for us because we got our first two wins," said assistant Valerie Vladea. "We didn't play as well as we could have, but we got the wins. It's tough because we're still not at 100 percent."

While Marquette is still missing No. 1 player Beba Calbeto, two important teammates returned from the sidelines. Freshman Laura Little and sophomore Erin Watkins, who had been out with injuries, won two singles matches and two doubles matches apiece. For the first time all year, Bronson was able to put a full team of six players on the court.

"We've been working toward getting everybody healthy in practice," said Bronson. "They showed a lot of heart out there today. It was an all-around effort."

Marquette was perfect in doubles, winning five matches. Andrea Bukacek lost both of her singles matches, while the rest of Marquette's roster won.

"I think they understood how hard they have to battle all the time," Bronson said. "Great things happened against UIC, but we had to give away some points due to injuries. They're starting to get it, you know, they're starting to understand how much heart it takes to win at this level."

The team lost to Illinois-Chicago last Wednesday, but Bronson was extremely positive afterwards. The Golden Eagles clearly took whatever good came out of their losing effort into Saturday's action and were rewarded with two relatively easy wins.

"Winning is great," Vladea said. "Now we need to take these two wins and move forward with them into this weekend. We're facing two tough opponents."

The Golden Eagles will play Friday night against Indiana State in Bloomington, Ind. Then, they'll wake up Saturday morning and face No. 32 Indiana. The big question right now is whether Calbeto will be healthy enough to play. She hit the ball for 20 minutes during Saturday's pre-game, and then told Bronson she was not confident in her ability to push off of her sore leg. She is questionable for this weekend's action, Bronson said.