Women's tennis drops Heartbreaker to league champion YSU

MILWAUKEE The Milwaukee women's tennis team took reigning Horizon League champion Youngstown State to the brink today, losing by a final score of 4-3 at River Glen Elite on Sunday afternoon.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” head coach said Mark Goudin said. “We thought it was going to be 4-3 either way, win or lose. And knowing that we fought as hard as we could and left everything on the field, we can live with the result.”

The Panthers (7-10, 1-2 Horizon League) played inspired tennis on “Senior Day” against the Penguins (5-12, 2-1 Horizon League), who ultimately pulled out the singles decision to escape with the win .

“Our confidence heading into the conference tournament at the end of the month is even higher now that we've played the top two seeds in our conference,” Goldin said. “We feel like with a few weeks of practice and a few things to improve on, we can come home with a championship this year.”

With all courts ready except No. 5 singles, YSU made a back-and-forth decision to earn the win after nearly three hours on the courts for the day.

MKE got off to a great start, claiming the doubles points with wins over No. 3 and No. 1, with the two seniors on the roster Babette Burgersdijk And Iva Stejskalov every part of the winning tandems.

Stejskalova and Emilia Durska were the first to finish, eliminating Lili Minich and Line Greyling with a score of 6-2. Shortly afterwards Burgersdijk and Nadia Konieva then took the point with another 6-2 decision over Eliska Masarikova and Maria Oliveira.

YSU quickly tied the match at 1-1 with a victory at No. 6 singles. Burgersdijk then put Milwaukee back in front with a nice decision, taking a 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5) decision at No. 1 over the 'Guins Eliska Masarikova. She won the first set and then raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second, only to see her opponent make an incredible comeback to take the 6-5 lead. Burgersdijk then immediately broke the serve back, sending the score to 6-6 and claiming the tiebreak, 7-5. The tiebreak also went back and forth, taking an early 2-0 lead and then falling behind 4-3 before the decisive push was made to close out the match.

The Penguins came through with wins over No. 4 and No. 2 to take the lead again at 3-2.

Laure Razet ensured it would be a thrilling finish, beating Lorena Cedeno 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Early in the third, she erased the deficit and broke serve to take the 5-4 lead before closing it out.

“She was down 3-1 in the third and fought hard for every point,” Goldin said. “We have a really strong team atmosphere at the moment where we are not just playing for ourselves but for the whole team and that really encourages people to step up their game during these games.”

The team then moves on to Horizon League play, traveling to Illinois to take on Chicago State on Saturday. The match will start at 12:00

“It was a great senior day,” Goldin said after post-match ceremonies were held for Burgersdijk and Stejskalova. “We're lucky to have the seniors in the team and the rest of the season, the last few weeks here, is about sending them off in the right way.”

Youngstown State 4, Milwaukee Panthers 3
Singles competition

1. Babette Burgersdijk (MKE) final Eliska Masarikova (YSU) 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5)
2. Julia Marko (YSU) def. Nadia Konieva (Woman) 7-5, 6-2
3. Laure Razet (MKE) final Lorena Cedeno (YSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Elinor Beazley (YSU) def. Sara Simonova (Woman) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
5. Lili Minich (YSU) def. Emilia Durska (Woman) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
6. Yesenia Ovcharova (YSU) def. Evelina Anastasia (Woman) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition

1. Babette Burgersdijk/Nadia Konieva (MKE) final Eliska Masarikova/Maria Oliveira (YSU) 6-2
2. Laure Razet/Sara Simonova (MKE) vs. Julia Marko/Lorena Cedeno (YSU) 4-4, unfinished
3. Iva Stejskalov/Emilia Durska (MKE) final Lili Minich/Line Greyling (YSU) 6-2