The University of Wisconsin women’s tennis team (10-1, 3-0 Big Ten) continued its dominant run through the season with their ninth straight victory, a commanding 4-1 win over Illinois (6-7, 1-1) on Sunday, March 9 at home.
Wisconsin entered the matchup with the Fighting Illini riding the momentum of a 4-0 win over Northwestern just two days prior on March 7. The Northwestern match was no ordinary game — this match featured the team’s 1K Day, an event put on by the women’s tennis team to try and set an NCAA attendance record of 1,000 fans at the match, which drew over 500 fans in attendance at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
“We are so thankful that everyone showed up to make it a memorable experience for our student-athletes,” head coach Kelcy McKenna said. “We are also thankful for the UW-Athletic staff, the marketing and brand communications, for making this an amazing event.”
Wisconsin set the tone early in their matches against Illinois by winning two of the three doubles matches. At the No. 1 spot, the undefeated pairing of senior Ariel Johnson and junior Maria Sholokhova dominated Illinois’s Kida Ferrari and Megan Heuser with a 6-1 victory, improving to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
No. 2 doubles pairing senior Taylor Cataldi and sophomore Ellison Reynoldson battled through a tight match against Violeta Martinez and Alice Xu, securing a 7-5 win. Cataldi and Reynoldson are now 5-1 overall and 2-0 in conference as a pairing.
Illinois secured a 6-2 win at the No. 3 doubles slot, where Wisconsin’s freshmen Ekaterina Ivanova and Parker Christensen fell short to Illinois’s McKenna Schaefbauer and Kasia Treiber.
Ivanova and Christensen were not the only ones who lost a tough battle against Illinois, however. At the No. 4 singles spot, Reynoldson lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 to Ariel Madatali.
In No. 1 singles, Sholokhova continued her dominance with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Schaefbauer, now making her record 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference. The same goes for Cataldi — she controlled Heuser at the No. 2 singles spot, winning 6-2, 6-0.
The most back-and-forth, intense match of the day came at No. 6 singles where sophomore Kája Jacobson fell in the first set 6-3 against her opponent, Xu. She forced a stellar comeback, winning both of the next two sets 6-3.
Due to Jacobson’s victory, two singles matches were left unfinished. Ivanova’s match was tied in the third set at 4-6, 6-4, 3-3 against Martinez while Johnson was trailing at 3-6, 6-3, 4-5 against Treiber.
The Badgers now turn their focus on an upcoming Big Ten road trip, where they will face Nebraska on March 22 at noon in Lincoln before traveling to Iowa City for their match against Iowa on March 23 at noon.