The Milwaukee women's tennis team will play for the first time in 2024 this weekend, hitting the road for a pair of matches. The Panthers open the spring slate Friday at Drake and continue on to Northern Iowa Saturday.
 
Friday's matchup against the Bulldogs starts at 5 p.m. from the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. Drake will be providing live statistics as well as a live stream via its YouTube channel with links posted on the MKE website as soon as they are available. The next day the Panthers and Panthers are set to start at 1 p.m. from the Black Hawk Tennis Center in Waterloo, Iowa.
 
Hopes remain high this spring for the Panthers and first-year head coach Mark Goldin after the team reached the Horizon League Tournament semifinals. That followed a trip to the league championship match the year prior. A year ago, the squad was knocked out by top-seeded Youngstown State, coming up just short of a return trip to the title match.
 
Goldin is a fixture in the Milwaukee tennis community and was named the head coach of the Panthers in August, 2023, following a very successful run as the head coach at Cardinal Stritch University and, most recently, as the assistant general manager at Elite Sports Club in Mequon.

His tenure at Cardinal Stritch from 2013 to 2021 was impressive, earning the Wilson ITA Women's NAIA National Coach of the Year Award in 2014 in addition to four East Region Wilson ITA Coach of the Year accolades and Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors on eight different occasions (4 women's/4 men's).
 
Goldin guided the Wolves to a 64-1 overall CCAC conference record over his first eight seasons on the women's side after founding the program, eight CCAC Conference championship titles, and a team ranking as high as No. 4 in the nation. On the men's side, the team went 61-4 in CCAC play, claiming seven league titles as well as a national ranking as high as No. 2 in back-to-back seasons. His teams also received the highest team GPA awards from the department numerous times, including winning the award on each side his final semester.
 
No stranger to the Panthers, Goldin served as an assistant with the program from 2009 through 2012, helping the team improve from near the bottom of the league standings to a Top-3 program in his time. In fact, MKE went from five team wins, 39 individual wins and a 2-6 conference record in his first year to 13 team wins, 126 individual wins and a 6-2 Horizon League record for third place, the best in school history at the time.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Friday's match will be the 10th all-time between the two programs, with Drake the decisive advantage with nine victories. The Bulldogs are 0-2 to start the season, falling to Kansas State (6-1) and Wichita State (5-2). New head coach Breaunna Addison comes to Drake following three seasons as an assistant tennis coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Breaunna helped the RedHawks capture the 2018-19 Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament crowns. Under her leadership, Miami also secured their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015. So far this school year, Ines Stephani (13-5) and Maria Tatarnikova (12-7) lead the team in singles play, while Tatarnikova and Liza Petushkova lead the Bulldogs in doubles wins with 10 apiece. The most recent meeting between the teams was March of 2022, with Drake earning the 6-1 decision.
 
Milwaukee and UNI have been playing consistently since the 2004-05 season, with Northern Iowa the 12-8 advantage. Most recently, Milwaukee earned a 5-2 victory last season. Chris Sagers has been the head coach of the program since 2014, leading the team to a 5-15-1 record last year. Darta Dalecka leads singles action this year with seven wins (7-6); while Kim Zizek and Andrijana Brkic each have a team-best three doubles victories.
 
ROSTER MAKEUP
The current roster comes from an extensive background of seven different countries and will consist of five returners, a transfer to the program, and two freshmen. Leading the way for the returners in Nadiia Konieva, who was named All-Horizon League First Team as well as the Horizon League Freshmen of the Year following an outstanding first season with the Panthers (just fourth MKE tennis player to earn Freshman of the Year honors in program history). She finished the season with an overall record of 20-14 in singles play and 18-14 in doubles action. Konieva played singles from No. 2 to No. 4 position and recorded 20 singles victories, the first Panther to achieve the 20-plus milestone since 2017.
 
FALL FESTIVITES
This fall, Milwaukee competed in three different tournaments, visiting Michigan and for a pair of trips in addition to an event in-state. Konieva led the way in singles with a 5-1 mark, with newcomer Laure Razet joining her for the team lead with a 5-2 ledger. Freshman Evelina Anastasi was next at 4-2. In doubles, the team of Konieva and Razet paced the Panthers at an impressive 4-1.
 
Milwaukee has been picked to finish fourth in the league this season in a poll of the league's coaches, despite very strong finishes to their campaign each of the past two years. The Panthers finished 2-4 last spring and went into the Horizon League Tournament as the No. 5 seed, knocking off No. 4 Northern Kentucky, 4-0, before falling to Youngstown State in the semifinals.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers have been stellar at home of late, going 23-11 over the past four-plus years, including a 10-3 mark in 2021. Last season, MKE claimed victories in three of its final four home duals heading into the postseason and were 8-4 overall.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers open the home schedule next week, welcoming North Dakota Saturday and Bradley Sunday.