April 2, 2011

Results

JACKSON, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's tennis team dropped a tough 5-2 decision to Wright State Saturday at Pleasant Valley Tennis and Fitness.

The Panthers (10-7, 3-3 Horizon) had a number of opportunities to win the match, but narrowly lost the doubles point and suffered three, 3-set singles defeats.

"This was a very hard-fought match between two good teams," UWM head coach Sean McInerney said. "It was a very disappointing loss and the fact that we came close is not the goal of this program. I am looking forward to see how we come out tomorrow morning against Butler, as I think it will tell us a lot about us as a team."

Milwaukee looked like it might jump ahead in the match by claiming a doubles win as Maddy Soule and Beth Ganser teamed up for a 9-7 win in the third slot. But Sammi Schoen and Kelly Fritz fell by a similar score in the second slot while Wright State claimed an 8-3 win in the top spot.

"Once again we played solid in doubles. We did the right things, supported each other and attacked well," McInerney said. "We need to improve on staying aggressive the entire time. If we do this, we will close out some of these matches where we are getting nipped at the end."

In singles play, the teams split the first two matches to finish, with Kristen Kurer claiming a straight-sets win in the fifth spot while Ganser dropped a two-set decision in the sixth slot. The other four matches all went three sets, but only Soule was able to pull out win. She actually did so after losing the first set, rallying to win the final two frames, 6-2, 6-3.

"Maddy Soule had a very good win fighting back and staying positive at number-one singles against a very good opponent. Kristin Kurer was absolutely amazing today and is continuing to improve and, simply stated, is a great winner," McInerney said. "I knew singles was going to be tight. They are well-coached and did a good job keeping pressure on us. I think we displayed a lot of heart this match but for us to move up in the league, we'll need to execute better."

Things get no easier for the Panthers Sunday, as Butler visits Pleasant Valley for a 10 a.m. contest.