MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee tennis team swung a hot racket Saturday as the Panthers earned its first victory of the 2018 season defeating South Dakota State 6-1 Saturday at River Glen Elite.
 
With a full week of preparation for South Dakota State (0-7), the Panthers (1-8) were focused and poised on getting a win this weekend.
 
After splitting the first double matches, the points came down to doubles team No. 3 Nicole Clarke and Lucy Harper. The match rallied back and forth, but it was the Panthers who came out on top winning, 7-6 (1). Completing the half of the points were No. 1 Labina Petrovska and Anna Daniel Fuentes who won 6-4.
 
From there, Milwaukee used it's doubles momentum into singles play winning all but one match. "I'm really proud of the way every Panther fought today," said head coach Jason Potthoff.  "They battled on their individual courts and the battled as a team today. Now we know what we have to do every match so that we can get to where we want to be in April."
 
In addition to the team's first victory, senior Labina Petrovska notched her first dual victory of the season in what has been a highly contested and competitive lineup for the Michigan native. Petrovska took the first set 6-3, but found herself tied after losing the second, 2-6. It was the final set, however, the Petrovska took the reins and defeated Katerina Tretyakova 6-4 in the final.
 
At No. 2 and No. 3 singles, Loren Nelson and Anna Daniel Fuentes earned matching W's defeating their opponents in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Panthers freshmen, Agata Jurczak and Lucy Harper earned big wins as well and cleaned up the remaining points for Milwaukee beating the Jack Rabbits 7-5, 7-5 and 7-5, 6-2.
 
UWM looks to continue this energy into Sunday as the Panthers host Chicago State at 1 p.m. at River Glen Elite.