April 20, 2013
Results
DETROIT, Mich. -
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's tennis team dropped the doubles point for just the second time in its last 16 matches and could never get over the hump in singles play in dropping a heartbreaking 4-3 decision at Detroit Saturday night.
A win would have given Milwaukee (12-9, 4-3 Horizon) a best-ever second-place finish in the league. Instead, the Panthers will be the fifth seed in the upcoming league tournament and will likely face a rematch with Detroit to open the postseason.
This was also the third time in seven league matches the final score was 4-3, with Milwaukee 1-2 in those three contests.
"We just didn't play with the aggressiveness in doubles that has been our trademark and that we needed against a quality opponent like Detroit. We competed hard, but we just didn't execute," Milwaukee head coach Sean McInerney said. "We knew singles would be a battle throughout the lineup and it was. Again, we competed hard but we just made too many little mistakes to win this kind of match. Detroit is very talented and very deep and it showed."
In doubles play, the Panthers dropped all three matches but each of the contests was close. In singles play, Maddy Soule, Dana Shannon and Brittany Skemp all claimed wins but Milwaukee was beaten in straight sets in the other three spots.
The Panthers now quickly turn their attention toward this weekend's league championships in Indianapolis. Milwaukee opens play at 10 a.m. EDT April 26 at North Central High School, with the Detroit the likely opponent pending the conclusion of matches around the league Sunday. UWM will look to put its disappointment over Saturday in the rearview mirror quickly.
"We were just a little too undisciplined and made too many errors. But we had a very solid regular season and we're looking forward to being a factor in the conference tournament," McInerney said. "We'll work hard to clean some of these things up this week. It looks like we'll get another shot at Detroit and we'll be ready for it."
