The Marquette women's tennis team ended its regular season on a high note, sweeping Wisconsin-Green Bay, 7-0, Thursday at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium. The Golden Eagles will head into the Conference USA tournament with a 5-15 record.
"It was great to end the season with a sweep," head coach Jody Bronson said. "It's important that the girls feel good about their performances going into the tournament."
A three-hour practice the afternoon before their last home game prepared the Marquette squad to end the season with a win.
"We all just practiced one or two things we really needed to work on in the matches," freshman Erin Watkins said. "I focused on consistency and the whole team focused on setting up to take shots."
Despite being so late in the season, coach Bronson switched the doubles line-up to see how different combinations of girls would play together.
"We're trying different doubles teams," Watkins said. "Some people haven't been playing that well together, so coach is trying to switch people up and see how it works."
Bronson's last-minute decision seemed to be the right one since the Golden Eagles came out strong and swept doubles play.
Sophomore Francina Bonnelly and freshman Maria Calbeto defeated Heather Harding and Amber Murdoch in No. 1 doubles, 8-5. Freshman duo Elsemieke Dokter and Watkins beat UWGB's Megan Gregory and Jenny Tan, 8-4 in No. 2 doubles. In the last spot sophomore partners Andrea Bukacek and Dominika Dabrowski knocked off Kristin Leeder and Amy Meissner, 8-4.
"We knew this team wasn't as good as us," Watkins said. "So it was important that we kept our level of play up."
The Golden Eagles took the intensity and momentum from doubles play over to singles action, sweeping all six spots in straight sets.
Calbeto defeated Harding in the No. 1 spot, 6-2, 6-1. She finished the regular season with a 10-22 record. Dokter ended the season and her last regular-season match at Marquette with an easy win over Murdoch, 6-1, 6-1, in No. 2 singles.
She leaves Marquette with a 7-22 regular season record. In No. 3 singles, Watkins tallied another point for the Golden Eagles beating Tan, 6-2, 6-3. Watkins finished the regular season with a 9-22 record.
Bonnelly took the No. 4 match from Gregory with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. She ended the regular season with a 6-18 slate.
Dabrowski added another point to Marquette's score, taking the victory from Leeder in two easy sets, 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 5 spot. Bukacek followed her teammates' lead and closed the lineup for Marquette, defeating Meissner, 6-1, 6-4.
"My only goal is that the girls follow through on all the things they have been taught," Bronson said.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 19 2005.