After four hours of tennis, yells of frustration, long rallies and well-placed shots, the Marquette women's tennis team defeated Illinois-Chicago Wednesday at Helfaer Tennis Stadium, 4-3.
Despite adding another win to its season record and improving to 2-2, coach Jody Bronson was not pleased with her team's performance.
"We did not do any of the things that we have been practicing all week," Bronson said. "We missed shots that we shouldn't have and our serves were not that good. We were lucky to win today. We did not perform the way we sould have performed."
Marquette won the doubles point, but not without hard work and determination. All three duos started the matches down, but they were able to come back and capture the point.
Sophomore Callan Smith and freshman Maria Calbeto defeated Iris Jaklin and Melanie Humphrey in No. 1 doubles, 9-8. In No. 2 doubles freshman Elsemieke Dokter and sophomore Francina Bonnelly tallied a win against their UIC opponents, Corey Steven and Christina Oum, 8-6. Freshman Erin Watkins and sophomore Kathleen Donovan were beaten by Molly Smith and Grace Gill-Morlis in No. 3 doubles, 8-4.
"In every doubles match we started down and had to climb back," Bronson said. "We should have never been in that situation. It was good that we were able to fight and come back and win the point. But we needed to start ahead of them or even with them so we're always right there on the same level."
The Golden Eagles entered singles play ahead, 1-0, but their win did not come easily.
Bonnelly knocked off Oum in No. 5 singles, 6-0, 6-2, giving Marquette another point. But then Dokter lost to Smith in No. 4 singles, 7-5, 6-1, and Donovan also lost 6-0, 6-1 to Gill-Morlis at the No. 6 spot, evening the match to 2-2.
The lineup switched again Wednesday night as Donovan entered in No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles for the first time this winter.
"She played against a tough opponent tonight," assistant Coach Raj Gill said. "It was good for her to experience this level of competition. Hopefully she realized what it takes to compete and learned a lot from the match."
In No. 2 singles Calbeto defeated her UIC opponent Steven, 6-3, 6-4, and Watkins defeated Humphrey in the No. 3 spot, 6-3, 6-4, sealing the victory for the Golden Eagles.
"Those were good matches to win," Bronson said. "But the whole team needs to realize that when a point's over, it's over. You can't celebrate or fret because the next point is already being played. Every point is so important in every match."
As hour four approached, both teams watched and cheered as Smith and her opponent battled out the third and final set. Smith suffered a tough loss to Jaklin, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 in No. 1 singles and her frustration on the court was evident.
"It is so important to not let your opponent know they are getting to you," Bronson said. "You can't let them think they can come back and get into the match."
Marquette will play Xavier Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 3 2005.