The Milwaukee women's tennis team concludes a stretch at home to open March this weekend, welcoming Whitewater Sunday afternoon at River Glen Elite. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m. against the Warhawks. 

River Glen Elite, the home of MKE Tennis, is located at 2001 Good Hope Road in Milwaukee (53209), a half-mile west of I-43 between River Hills and Glendale. Admission is free.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Whitewater is 7-2 this season, with the majority of that dual record occurring in the fall. So far this spring, the team is 0-2, falling to Northern Iowa (5-2 March 3) and to Northern Illinois (6-1 March 4). The squad also will play a match against Illinois Institute of Technology Friday.
 
The Warhawks claimed the 23^rd WIAC title in program history in the fall, going 6-0 against league foes in the regular season while also capturing titles in eight of nine championships in singles and doubles competition at the league meet. Autumn Bruno was named the Player of the Year. The 2021-22 WIAC Newcomer of the Year, Bruno captured the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles titles at this season's WIAC Championship, going 11-4 in singles play and 12-4 in doubles action thru the fall portion. Head coach Frank Barnes was selected as the WIAC Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. He led UWW to its 16^th consecutive and 23^rd overall WIAC title as Warhawks won five singles and all three doubles flights this season.
 
Milwaukee is 11-6 against Whitewater in the all-time series. In an odd look at the numbers, the team will carry an 11-match win streak into play Sunday – not having lost to UWW since 2005. A year ago was a 7-0 decision for the Panthers (March 13, 2022).

LAST WEEK
Milwaukee went 1-1, with a terrific effort against Northern Iowa followed by a great start against UIC in which the team claimed the doubles point before being unable to carry the momentum into singles action.
 
MKE dominated the doubles point against the UNI Panthers and then put together a very impressive effort in the singles matches to earn the 5-2 decision to improve to 5-1 at home this spring.
 
Milwaukee took care of doubles play in dominant fashion, winning both completed games by scores of 6-2 to take the 1-0 advantage. Nadiia Konieva and Giorgia Cavestro took care of Andrijana Brkic and Kim Zizek at No. 2 and Alice Shields and Iva Stejskalova dropped Thainna Moreira and Issa Sullivan by that same 6-2 decision at No. 3. The momentum carried over into singles play, which included some interesting scores along the way with Milwaukee going 4-2.
 
Milwaukee then started off the day strong by winning doubles play, but could not carry over the momentum into the rest of the afternoon in dropping a 6-1 decision to UIC Sunday. MKE claimed wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and did so in convincing fashion. Alice Shields and Iva Stejskalova defeated Tamara Malazonia and Paula Rodriguez Greg by a final score of 6-2 and Nadiia Konieva and Giorgia Cavestro capped the team point with a 6-3 victory over Natalia Nikolopoulou and Cora-Lynn vonDungern.
 
The Panthers eventually fell to the Flames despite winning first sets on three courts in singles action.
 
SO FAR SO GOOD
The Panthers have five dual wins this season so far and some strong results to build on, including Nadiia Konieva and Giorgia Cavestro being named the Nike #HLTennis Women's Doubles Team of the Week March 8 and Babette Burgersdijk and Sara Simonova being named the Nike #HLTennis Women's Doubles Team of the Week Feb. 15. Overall in the spring dual season, Konieva leads the way with seven individual victories (7-4 record), while Alice Shields has six (6-3). In doubles, Shields/Iva Stejskalova have six wins (6-2), while Cavestro/Konieva have five (5-4).  
 
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.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers have been stellar at home of late, going 28-13 over the past four-plus years (5-2 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 take a break for a stretch, returning to play on the road at Valparaiso March 25, set to start at 1 p.m.