MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee tennis team earned a dramatic, come-from-behind win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Saturday with a 4-3 victory to close out the regular season.
After losing the doubles point, Milwaukee (8-13, 3-3) rallied with four singles victories to claim a 4-3 dual match win over Oakland (8-9, 2-3).
"It was an incredible effort by the entire team today," said Panther head coach
Jason Potthoff. "This group has dealt with so much adversity this season that no one will ever know about except for us, and I have so much admiration for their resilience and their toughness. To win against a talented Oakland squad without winning the doubles point and with no one even remotely close to full strength says so much about the character and the competitiveness of this team," Potthoff adds. "The best part for me was seeing the individual efforts of girls who simply refused to not walk away with a win in their final home match as Panthers. Now we've got some momentum and good vibes heading into the tournament where anything can happen, and we are going to give it everything we've got."
Senior
Anika Tylek worked quickly once singles play began, dropping just three games winning 6-1, 6-2 over Oakland's Mia Melnizki. With the win, Tylek earned her ninth singles win of the season.
Fellow seniors
Mayya Perova and
Nikki Milner picked up key points for the Black & Gold and evened the dual at three points each. Perova dropped the first set, 4-6, but rallied back in the final two sets, 6-4, 6-4 for her 16
th victory. Milner finished shortly after, defeating Yasmin Glazbrook, 6-1, 4-7, 6-4.
The match came down to the final dual between MKE's
Greta Carbone and Oakland's Liza Mladentseva. Even at one set a piece, Carbone won game five and broke Mladentseva's serve to claim a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory for the match.
Final seedings for the Horizon League Championships will be determined at the end of the weekend with the Panthers currently holding down the No. 4 seed. The Championships begin on April 29 and run through May 1 at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
