Women's tennis ends season with split
Coach says weakness of young team will become future strength
Janelle Gergen
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: Sports
The UW-Eau Claire women's tennis team will not be participating in the NCAA Championship this semester, as decided by a Saturday tournament in Whitewater. Four teams competed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team tournament, the winner of which would be an automatic qualifier in the NCAA Championship. The Blugolds were unable to beat UW-La Crosse in the first round.
Eau Claire lost 3-5 against La Crosse, then beat UW-Oshkosh 8-1 in the second round. Overall, the Blugolds placed third.
Junior team captain Brenna McCormick said the goal was to beat La Crosse. There were some close matches, but the Blugolds weren't able to pull it out in the end.
"We had some pretty good matches, even though we lost," she said. "We got third, which was pretty much what we were expected to get."
Coach Craig Monson thought the tournament went well, and he was pleased despite the results.
"I think we played as well as we could have," he said. "We didn't lose it; they came out and beat us. … We left everything on the court, and we went out there and competed well."
This marks the end of the spring season for the Blugolds, and now they will have to look ahead to next fall. Monson said he saw vast improvement in the team this year and he expects that to continue. The team was fairly young this year, he said, which may have been a slight weakness, but it will definitely be a strength in the season to come.
"(We have) a lot of good momentum going into next fall," Monson said.
He is also proud of the team's work ethic.
"We have a hard-working team … actually one of the hardest-working teams in the conference," he said. "We have a lot of fun and work hard, and that's definitely a strength."
Something they could improve on next semester, he said, was their consistency, while McCormick thought they needed to work on playing the game all the way through.
"We don't finish out matches," she said, "and we allow other teams to get back into the game."
UW-Whitewater beat La Crosse 7-2 in the second round to earn the automatic bid. The championship begins next weekend.
Although the Blugolds will not be participating, Monson feels the season as a whole and the tournament were successful.
"We all did play as well as we could," Monson said. "They were just a little better than us today."
Eau Claire lost 3-5 against La Crosse, then beat UW-Oshkosh 8-1 in the second round. Overall, the Blugolds placed third.
Junior team captain Brenna McCormick said the goal was to beat La Crosse. There were some close matches, but the Blugolds weren't able to pull it out in the end.
"We had some pretty good matches, even though we lost," she said. "We got third, which was pretty much what we were expected to get."
Coach Craig Monson thought the tournament went well, and he was pleased despite the results.
"I think we played as well as we could have," he said. "We didn't lose it; they came out and beat us. … We left everything on the court, and we went out there and competed well."
This marks the end of the spring season for the Blugolds, and now they will have to look ahead to next fall. Monson said he saw vast improvement in the team this year and he expects that to continue. The team was fairly young this year, he said, which may have been a slight weakness, but it will definitely be a strength in the season to come.
"(We have) a lot of good momentum going into next fall," Monson said.
He is also proud of the team's work ethic.
"We have a hard-working team … actually one of the hardest-working teams in the conference," he said. "We have a lot of fun and work hard, and that's definitely a strength."
Something they could improve on next semester, he said, was their consistency, while McCormick thought they needed to work on playing the game all the way through.
"We don't finish out matches," she said, "and we allow other teams to get back into the game."
UW-Whitewater beat La Crosse 7-2 in the second round to earn the automatic bid. The championship begins next weekend.
Although the Blugolds will not be participating, Monson feels the season as a whole and the tournament were successful.
"We all did play as well as we could," Monson said. "They were just a little better than us today."
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