Blugold tennis stays hot

Women’s tennis completes two sweeps, continues win streak

The UW-Eau Claire women’s tennis team was able to take care of business over the weekend and on Tuesday afternoon by sweeping UW-Stout on Saturday and UW-River Falls on Tuesday.

The Blugolds had no problems taking down Stout Saturday, beating the Blue Devils 9-0 in Menomonie.

Four Blugolds lost just three games on their way to winning in straight sets and sweeping singles play. The two other Blugolds dropped just four games.

Senior Maddie Johnson won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, and junior Colleen McCullough won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.

At No. 3 singles, junior Paige Kuepers won 6-0, 6-3 while senior Madison Rossebo won No. 4 singles 6-3, 6-0.

Kuepers said what allowed the Blugolds to remain strong and dominate on Saturday and Tuesday were the physical aspects of the game.

“For us as a team, it was all about our footwork, movement and consistency,” Kuepers said. “When we’re able to do these three things throughout an entire match, our play is much better and more steady.”

After winning their third match in a row Saturday, the Blugolds won all six singles matches in straight sets en route to beating River Falls on the road 9-0 to extend their current win streak to four.

During the current win streak, the team has not dropped more than two games in a match and has continued to display great movement and footwork, head coach Tom Gillman said.

Gillman said the team set up goals coming into the season, and one of them was to extend their mentalities beyond winning.

“Coming into this year the girls set a goal to extend themselves beyond winning,” Gillman said. “We could get lazy, but instead we work on making ourselves better and think about more than just winning coming into our matches.”

In singles play Tuesday, the Blugolds lost just eight games in 12 sets, including 6-0, 6-0 victories in the No. 4, 5 and 6 matches.  

In doubles play, the Blugolds struck similar results as they lost only five games winning all three matches they competed in.

Johnson and McCullough started things off the right way at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, both winning 6-2, 6-1. Senior Nicole Pothen defeated Molly Deering at No. 3 singles 6-1, 6-1. To close  things, off senior Madison Rossebo, freshman Sarah Henderson and sophomore Olivia Gallagher both won 6-0, 6-0 in No. 4, 5 and 6 singles respectively.

The Blugolds continued their dominant play in doubles play. The duo of Johnson and Rossebo won at No. 1 doubles 8-4. Along with this, the pair of Pothen and Kuepers won at No. 2 doubles, and at No. 3 doubles the combination of McCullough and Henderson defeated their opponents quickly.

This upcoming weekend, the Blugolds will compete at the ITA Tournament hosted by Gustavus Adolphus in (Minn.) The tournament will start on Friday, Sept. 19 and will conclude Sunday, Sept. 21.