Nicole Robinson

With only two meets remaining until the WIAC tournament, the UW-Eau Claire women’s tennis team gave conference foes reason to beware as they trounced UW-Stevens Point 8-1 at a chilly Simpson Outdoor Complex Monday.

Junior Katie Kuzma went on to become 7-5 on the year after her 6-0, 6-1 victory in No. 1 singles. Kuzma also notched a victory in No. 1 doubles as she and sophomore Laura Geissler, won 8-3.

“We’ve been fooling with the lineup a lot,” said Kuzma, who has had three doubles partners in the past two weeks.

“It’s hard to get used to one person, but Laura and I were together before and we just really click,” she said.

Geissler was involved in the only contested match at No. 5 singles, in what turned out to be the last match of the afternoon. The back-and-forth battle was eventually won by the Pointers’ Jada Fenske 7-6, 6-7, 10-7.

Another highlight came from freshman Liz Deprey, who recorded her first victory as a Blugold in a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win.

With temperatures below 40 degrees for most of the match, many of the ‘Golds could be found bundled up in their winter clothing. But Kuzma said once the match starts, the weather is not a factor.

“When you’re out there, you don’t really pay attention to anything, you just focus,” Kuzma said. “After the point you can shiver a little bit, but during the point you don’t really think about it.”

With the win, the Blugolds snap a two-meet losing streak and up their conference dual meet record to 2-2.

They now head down the home stretch of the season with dual meets remaining against UW-Oshkosh on Saturday and at UW-River Falls next Wednesday.

Head coach Craig Monson said the team has come a long way since their season opening 7-2 loss to UW-Whitewater.

“The team’s getting better,” Monson said. “We had a rough start going against Whitewater right off the bat, but that’s just the way the schedule is set. We’re definitely getting better and I’m pretty happy with the way the team is progressing.”

The conference tournament Oct. 23 at UW-River Falls, will give the Blugolds a chance to erase the pain of previous defeats.

“The conference tournament is really what matters. Anything can happen there. We could win it all right there in that one day,” Kuzma said.

“We’re going to be ready for it,” Monson said. “We still have some work to do and we still need to keep improving, but we’re definitely on the right track.”