Entering the Woverine Invitational this weekend, the women's tennis team had played in only two fall tournaments this season. Yet the squad was already dealing with adversity.

Two of Marquette's three freshmen are out due to injury. Robin Metzler has yet to be cleared medically due to knee and wrist issues. Lauren Little will likely be a medical redshirt, and she is looking at a six-month rehab after shoulder surgery.

With those two losses, the team is essentially the same as last year, minus their number one (Callan Smith) and number three (Elsemieke Dokter) singles starters, who are no longer on the team.

"They've got to step it up this year," said head coach Jody Bronson.

With that in mind, the team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the weekend tournament. After playing poorly Friday, the women showed resilience on Saturday and Sunday.

"We started real slow on Friday, but we played much better Saturday and Sunday," said sophomore Beba Calbeto.

At this point, Bronson said she is not especially concerned with wins and losses. Even after the team won the majority of its matches two weekends ago at the Milwaukee Classic, she said she was not pleased with her team's play. But after the Wolverine Invitational, Bronson was in a much better mood, despite her team not posting as strong of a record.

"Saturday and Sunday were positive," she said. "There were small steps taken forward, the issue now is being able to sustain that level of consistency. You can't take steps forward and then follow them up with steps backward."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 4, 2005.