Abby Harvey

Heading into the 2007 season, the UW-Eau Claire women’s tennis team expected to be one of the final two teams standing in the WIAC conference at the end of the year.

After this weekend’s conference tournament in Madison, the Blugolds were right where they thought they would be in second place behind only UW-Whitewater, with a team score of 18 to Whitewater’s 21.

Coach Craig Monson said the team wanted to hold its spot at number two in the conference, but knew it could play with the best of them.

“The conference is deep; we know anybody can beat anybody on any given day, so we knew we could play with (Whitewater),” Monson said. “They beat us last time we played, but weren’t shocked that we beat them a few times.”

Senior Sarah Riordan said the team journeyed to Madison expecting to win.

“Our number one goal was to come out on top,” Riordan said. “If we would’ve won two out of three doubles matches, we would’ve won (the tournament), but Whitewater is such an awesome team.”

Riordan paired up with sophomore Gina Dahl in the No. 1 doubles competition and took second place with a notable second round victory over Whitewater, 8-2.

“We got up right away against Whitewater, but in the finals against UW-River Falls we trailed 0-5, came back but ended up losing 5-8,” she said. “It was super exciting for (the team) that we beat Whitewater because it put us in a great position to win the meet.”

Dahl also took the conference championship for No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-2 over her competitor from UW-Stout.

“(Dahl) really played fantastic all weekend,” Monson said.

Throughout the entire tournament, Riordan said the team had a positive beat that carried over into each match.

“Everyone was really excited, positive and fired up to play,” she said, “so it kind of rubbed off. . Tons of fans were there too so that really helped too.”

Riordan said her partnership with Dahl in doubles matches was never more fun than it was in Madison.

“(No. 1 doubles) was the most intense ever . it was a ton of fun,” she said. “We really just wanted to go out and dominate Whitewater.”

She said the Blugolds had more people in finals matches this year than any other year Monson has been head coach.

With Blugold players competing in eight out of the nine finals matches, Monson said there isn’t much the team can complain about.

“It was a great year and we had a great tournament,” he said. “We expected to be here with Whitewater being a little better than us, but it was a fantastic finish to a good year.”

Riordan also said the team isn’t down on itself for coming in second.

“We’re pretty much where we thought we would be heading into the tournament,” she said. “Whitewater is tough, so I don’t think anyone is disappointed at all.”