GLENDALE, Wis. — When the Marquette women’s tennis team arrived at Elite Sports Club — North Shore this morning, it was treated to a decorated locker room with blue and gold balloons, personalized gifts and cards for Senior Day.
The Golden Eagles honored Elisabeth Desmarais, Julieanne Bou, Elizabeth Ferdman, Tiana Windbuchler and Giulia Turconi prior to their final home match of the season against the Seton Hall Pirates.
Each of the five were presented with flowers and a framed photo before receiving hugs with a heartfelt message from head coach of the men’s and women’s team Steve Rodecap and associate head coach Dusan Medan.
Julieanne Bou, Elisabeth Desmarais, Elizabeth Ferdman, Giulia Turconi and Tiana Windbuchler all receive Senior Day honors. #muwten pic.twitter.com/udTZascl8B
— jack_albright (@JackAlbrightMU) April 8, 2023
With Turconi, Windbuchler and Bou’s parents unable to attend, individuals from the program walked each of them up during the ceremony.
Bou, who transferred from Big East foe UConn, said today was a nice surprise for herself as she did not have a traditional senior day with the Huskies.
“It made me cry,” Bou said. “I didn’t have that at my previous school, so it was very exciting and emotional.”
Ferdman had her parents walk with her. And as for Desmarais, her dad, Philippe, traveled from Quebec, Canada to be in attendance for the day’s festivities.
“It was actually his first time watching me in college so that was pretty important for me,” Desmarais said. “I’m from Canada, so I don’t see him often. I think he was super happy to see me playing tennis and it meant a lot for him to make the trip over here.”
But when the players stepped onto the court, the flowers were moved to the corner, the smiles faded and the game faces appeared.
Marquette (8-10, 2-3 Big East) defeated Seton Hall (6-11, 0-4 Big East) in a 6-1 decision after sweeping the doubles matches 2-0 and going 5-1 in singles.
Ferdman and Bou won both their doubles match together and their individual singles matches.
Turconi and Windbuchler, two of the team’s doubles specialists, won their doubles match 6-4. Desmarais swept her singles match with a game-ending over-the-head volley.
In what has been an up-and-down season for the Golden Eagles, Medan said the seniors have been able to help push the team to bounce back after a rocky start.
“To get out six, seven losses to start the season, it’s not easy to bounce back,” Medan said. “I give these girls a lot of credit and (the) seniors really stepped up.”
But regardless of the way the season has panned out, Windbuchler said she believes this team is more than its record.
“This year in particular was good. We haven’t had the best record but we have this tightness that we’ve never had,” Windbuchler said. “That’s how we’re getting through it and results are showing up with it now.”
Ferdman said it will be the bond that the team shares amongst itself that she will remember from her time in the blue and gold. She said she specifically loves when the team does stuff together outside of tennis, such as when everyone gets together for steak nights.
“Steak night is something that I personally host and Tiana makes the steaks and I make the mashed potatoes,” Ferdman said. “The first person that I see when I walk in the locker room that day, I’ll be like, ‘Do you want to come to steak night?’ I think every single girl here has been to one of my famous steak nights.”
For Desmarais, the most memorable moment as a Golden Eagle came in March of 2020 on a road trip to Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona.
After losing their match to the Sun Devils, everyone went back to the hotel for their spring break and to play the board game Taboo. In the middle of the game, they found out the season would be canceled due to COVID-19. With tears in eyes, the team stayed together for one last night before flying home the next day.
“It sounds like maybe not a good memory because we’re all crying but the fact that we were so sad to lose each other showed how much love was in this team,” Desmarais said. “It was a sad but great memory.”
Desmarais may have come to Marquette for the tennis, but she stayed for the culture.
“I’m just so grateful that I was able to play those five years and get to play tennis but also meet incredible people,” Desmarais said. “My experience is about people, our relationship and I’m so extremely grateful for everything that Marquette has done for me.”
With her final home match at Marquette over and five years under her belt, Desmarais said she has learned how important her team truly is.
“We play an individual sport and playing in a team like that in college, it’s a totally different game,” Desmarais said. “Girls like that, that are super supportive and resilient (are) great.”
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached [email protected] or on Twitter @JackAlbrightMU.
