MILWAUKEE, Wis. – It was a hard fought battle between two rival schools, but the Milwaukee tennis team came up short Saturday afternoon against Marquette, 5-2  at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium.
 
Marquette gained the upper hand to begin the match by edging out Milwaukee for the doubles point. The Golden Eagles No. 3 doubles put pressure on MKE in defeating MKE's Mayya Perova and Nikki Milner, 6-3. They then clinched the doubles point from the No. 1 line with a 7-6(2) victory over freshmen duo, Greta Carbone and Iva Stejskalova.
 
Undeterred after doubles, the Panthers came out swinging with Greta Carbone earning the first point for the Panthers in singles competition. Carbone served from the No. 1 line for the Black & Gold and defeated MU's Giulia Turconi, 7-5, 6-1.
 
Senior Anna Daniel Fuentes split the first two sets against Elisabeth Desmarais, but clawed her way back to earn the victory 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
 
Junior Mayya Perova won her first set over Andie Weise from the No. 2 singles line, but came up short the next two sets, falling by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
 
"There are certainly some positives that we will remember from today, but the bottom line is that we didn't take advantage of the opportunities we created for ourselves," said Panther head coach Jason Potthoff. "We served for the match at 5-3 on both the top two doubles courts and we should have closed them out right there. We had chances to come away with four or five first sets in singles and we needed those to force some scoreboard pressure and didn't quite execute on some winnable points. I'm incredibly proud of the way we fought and competed, but to get where we want to be as a program we need to find a way to put four points on the board in a match like this."
 
The Panthers will return to the courts next weekend and host Northern Iowa (Feb. 13) and UW-Whitewater (Feb. 14). First serve is set for 1 p.m. on both days at River Glen Elite.