Following a pair of dual victories at home last week, the Milwaukee women's tennis team takes to the road for a pair of non-conference match-ups in the state of Nebraska.
 
Up first is a stop at Omaha Saturday, set for a start time of 4 p.m. at the Miracle Hill Tennis Center, with live statistics available (link on MKE website). The weekend then wraps up with a quick turnaround, set to battle Creighton at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday at Hanscom Tennis Courts.
 
The week has already started on a strong note, with Babette Burgersdijk and Sara Simonova being named the Nike #HLTennis Women's Doubles Team of the Week as the Horizon League announced its weekly tennis awards on Wednesday. Burgersdijk and Simonova went 2-0 on the weekend from the No. 1 doubles spot, topping both Gustavus Adolphus and Eastern Illinois by a final score of 6-3. The result was even more important against EIU, as the doubles was tied 1-1 before they finished off the team point in MKE's favor.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Omaha is 2-5 on the season and will also be hosting Fort Hays State earlier on Saturday before welcoming the Panthers. After beating Bradley, 6-1 Feb. 5, the Mavericks have dropped back-to-back duals to Western Michigan (L, 4-0 Feb. 10) and Chicago State (L, 4-2 Feb. 11). The team, led by seventh-year head coach Adam Summitt, was selected fourth in the 2023 Summit League preseason poll. Graduate student Jessica Aragon was named a Summit League Preseason "Player to Watch". The Texas native spent four seasons with Nebraska, going 22-21 in singles and 27-18 in doubles. During the fall slate, Aragon won seven matches for the Mavericks. She is a former five-star recruit and top-45 player in the country. Milwaukee is 1-2 all-time against Omaha, with the Mavs claiming a 4-3 win in most recent action last season.
 
Creighton is off to an impressive 6-0 start and hosts Drake Saturday before welcoming the Panthers to campus. The team defeated Kansas City, 5-2, in most recent action Feb. 14 and is 2-0 at home. Tom Lilly is in his 26th full season at the helm of Creighton's women's and men's tennis programs and recently picked up career victory No. 500 against Air Force Jan. 28. Malvika Shukla earned BIG EAST Female Tennis Singles Player of the Week Feb. 6, while Shukla and Leanne Kendall were named the BIG EAST Female Doubles Team of the Week as well. MKE is 1-6 all-time against the Bluejays, with a 6-1 loss the most recent match back in 2010.
 
LAST WEEK
The Panthers went 2-0, claiming back-to-back impressive wins at home against Gustavus Adolpus (6-1 Feb. 11) and Eastern Illinois (5-2 Feb. 12) to improve to 4-1 at home this season. The Panthers rolled through doubles to set the pace in claiming a 6-1 victory over Gustavus Adolphus Saturday. MKE (3-4) quickly took care of business against the Gusties (0-1), sweeping all three doubles courts to grab the 1-0 advantage. The good play carried over into singles action, with a retirement (while ahead) the only blemish on a well-played afternoon. The squad then finished off an unbeaten weekend after taking care of Eastern Illinois, 5-2, Sunday afternoon. The MKE Panthers (4-4) started the day with the doubles point against the EIU Panthers (3-4) and then took four of six victories in singles play, several in convincing fashion.
 
QUICK PREVIEW
Hopes are high this spring for the Panthers and first-year head coach Ryan Kucera, after the team claimed a best-ever runner-up finish at the Horizon League Championships last year. The squad fell to No. 2 Youngstown State in a heartbreaker of a championship match, 4-3, after knocking off top-seeded Cleveland State in the semifinal round.
 
Kucera comes to Milwaukee after two years at Minnesota State University, Mankato, earning Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year honors last season following a very successful campaign on the courts. He led the Mavericks to a 16-10 record, which included an 8-3 ledger in NSIC play. In the process, he guided the program to the largest single-season turnaround in conference history, going from 11th place to third place in just one year.
 
ROSTER MAKEUP
The current MKE roster comes from an extensive background of seven different countries and will consist of a pair of Panther veteran returners in Anika Tylek and Iva Stejskalova, as well as second-year players Babette Burgersdijk and Giorgia Cavestro. Newcomers include Nadiia Konieva, Anouk Ma-Ajong, Alice Shields, and Sara Simonova.
 
Tylek is in her fourth season with the Panthers, having recorded 14 wins in singles and seven in doubles last year. Stejskalova is in her third year at MKE and posted a team-high 16 doubles victories last season as well as seven in singles play.
 
Milwaukee did lose a couple of key pieces to graduation, including Horizon League First-Team honoree Mayya Perova, who capped off her senior season with a career best 19-8 overall record in singles and tallied 15 more victories in doubles. Perova recorded a 10-match win streak during the season, while competing primarily from the No. 2 singles line (13-4) but also went 6-1 from the No. 1 position. She graduated as the winningest doubles player (win percentage) in program history at .722, going 70-27 in her career.
 
FALL FESTIVITES
This fall, Milwaukee competed in five different tournaments, visiting Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan, in addition to an event in-state. Shields went 10-4 to pace the Panthers in singles victories during the fall slate, while Shields and Konieva both went 9-6 to top doubles action.
 
Milwaukee has been picked to finish sixth in the league this season in a poll of the league's coaches, despite that very strong finish to their campaign a year ago. The Panthers finished 3-3 last spring and went into the Horizon League Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Youngstown State was the selection to win the league crown.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers have been stellar at home of late, going 27-12 over the past four-plus years (4-1 in 2023), including a 10-3 mark in 2021. Last season, MKE claimed victories in three of its final four home duals heading into the postseason.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers wrap up three in a row away from home with a trip across town to take on Marquette Feb. 26. Start time is scheduled for 11 a.m.