Blugold women serve a loss to every opponent
Women on break until April 25 after returning charged from spring break in Florida
Nick Gourdoux
Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: Sports
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"We were practicing great," coach Craig Monson said. "Lots of hard work and practice - we were ready to play."
The first match on Saturday, was against the College of St. Catherine (Minn.), and the Blugolds only dropped the No. 5 singles match, but swept the remaining singles and doubles matches. Freshman Megan Born only gave up one point in her No. 2 singles match - 6-1, 6-0 - and junior Brenna McCormick needed a super tiebreaker to win her No. 3 singles match - 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.
"It was nice not having to travel and being able to sit back and relax before and between the matches," Monson said. "It's nice too for family and friends of the players and the fans that they can come and watch us play here in Eau Claire."
The victory marked the third consecutive time the Blugolds defeated an opponent 8-1, dating back to the team's spring break trip to Orlando. On March 14, in Orlando, the team fell short against Wayne State University (Mich.), a Division II opponent; however, the team has not lost a match since. A 5-4 victory over Carthage College was sandwiched between 8-1 victories over Le Tourneau College (Texas), William Smith College (N.Y.) and Franklin and Marshall College (Penn.). With Saturday's victory over St. Catherine, the winning streak was extended to five games with UW-Stout as their next opponent.
"Spring break definitely gave us some confidence and momentum going into the rest of our spring season," Monson said. "It was a great trip for us; without it we wouldn't be where we are at now. It definitely helped us get ready for our spring matches."
In the second match of the day the Blugolds performed even better. Against Stout, both sophomore Michelle Reinders and junior Courtney Lynne did not drop a point, winning 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 and No. 6 singles respectively. Both Born and McCormick gave up only two points in their singles matches. Gina Dahl and Lynne won their No. 1 doubles match 8-0.
The Blugolds improved to 23-10-1 overall and 15-6 in dual meets with the pair of victories. The win over Stout also improved Eau Claire's record in WIAC dual meets to 4-2 on the season.
The team will return to the courts in three weeks for its alumni weekend on April 25. The Blugolds will then travel to UW-Whitewater the following weekend, May 2, for WIAC Automatic Qualifier tournament, where the team will compete for a chance to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championships.
"There could be a rust factor, and I'm really hoping there isn't," Monson said. "We have to keep practicing like we have and keep focused … we need to be ready to play."
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