The Marquette women’s tennis team ended a two-match losing streak this weekend with a 7-0 win over Green Bay, while the men’s team lost 6-1 to No. 64 Purdue.
The women’s team got off to a fast start Saturday, clinching the doubles point with a 6-2 win from first doubles duo Silvia Ambrosio and Erin Gebes and a 6-1 win from second doubles pair Diana Tokar and Paula Tormos Sanchez.
“We needed to come out and win the doubles point. That was huge,” said women’s head coach Jody Bronson. “We have been struggling with that and it set a really good tone.”
Gebes improved her singles record to 5-3 on the season with a 6-1, 6-0 victory. The rest of the team followed suit with convincing singles victories.
“I hope this does a lot for our confidence because we have a tough match this weekend against Indiana,” said Bronson.
On Saturday, the men’s side was faced with the challenge of going on the road against a ranked opponent in Purdue. To make matters worse, the team was without Mackenzie Stearns, who is battling a shoulder injury.
The Golden Eagles got off to a slow start at doubles.
“I didn’t feel like we played very good doubles,” said men’s head coach Steve Rodecap. “It felt like we were passive and on our heals. We were playing safe conservative type doubles and that is not a characteristic of how we had been trending. For me that was a key point because it really set the tone for the day.”
After the lackluster start, the Golden Eagles were unable to gain any energy in singles play as several matches were quickly decided, causing too large of a hole for the team to dig out of.
“If you start and stay on top of the match early that helps things,” said Rodecap. “The season is long and you have to learn from what happens and try to use it moving forward to get better.”
Kristiyan Trukov secured the lone point for the Golden Eagles with a 6-4, 6-3 singles victory.
Both teams will face ranked opponents this upcoming weekend. The men’s team will travel to Madison to take on No. 36 Wisconsin on Saturday at 6 p.m. with hopes that Mackenzie Stearns will be in the lineup. The women will be going to Bloomington, Indiana to take on No. 63 Indiana Sunday at 10 a.m.
