| Box Score 3 CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Milwaukee women's tennis team concluded the fall portion of the 2024-25 season with a trip to Ohio this past weekend to compete in the first-ever Horizon League Individual Championships.
 
The event, hosted by Cleveland State, was held at the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion from Friday through Sunday, with the Panthers participating in singles and doubles competition. All six WTEN teams from the league were on hand.
 
The field featured a 32-player 'Singles Draw' as well as a 16-team 'Doubles Draw', with the winners from both brackets earning entries into the ITA Conference Masters Championship, set for early November in San Deigo, Calif. The first two days saw two rounds of singles and one round of doubles action, while Championship Sunday held the singles final along with the doubles semifinals and final.
 
"At this point of the year, especially with three freshmen on the roster, we are improving week by week," head coach Mark Goldin said. "We still feel really good with the track we are on to be ready for spring. This tournament, we came in focused. In my opinion, we won the matches that we had the pressure to win and got super-close to pulling off upsets in the others, but just didn't get over that line. That's why I am happy with where we are at, being so early in the year. But on the other hand, I know we have some work to do for the spring to get over that finish line in those matches that maybe we aren't favored in."
 
Nikola Nikolajeva and Emilia Durska highlighted the action for Milwaukee in singles play, with each advancing out of the first round. Nikolajeva took care of Oakland's Martyna Piechowicz, 6-1, 7-5, while Durska outlasted OU's Josie Ward 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
 
Nikolajeva dropped a tough second-round matchup with Cleveland State's Tereze Vevere, falling 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Rubio jumped out to a one-set lead, but could not pull out the decision against Northern Kentucky's Ashlee Fisk, falling 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
 
Doubles started off red-hot, with each team advancing out of the first round. Both teams of Nadiia Konieva/Nikola Nikolajeva as well as Elisa Rubio/Emilia Durska, blanked their opponents, defeating Oakland and IU Indianapolis, by identical 8-0 scores, respectively.
 
Laure Razet and Sara Simonova also got through the first round but had to go the other route, outlasting IU Indy's Emma Dell and Calli Sokolowski, 9-7.
 
That was where advancement stalled, as Razet/Simonova ran into the eventual champions from Cleveland State next, while the other two MKE squads fell to duos that advanced to the semifinals and quarters.
 
In the singles draw-back portion, the team closed out the meet on a high note, claiming victories in three of four matches.
 
Konieva easily dispatched Hanan Awale (IU Indianapolis) 6-2, 6-1, Razet went to a second-set tiebreaker before earning the 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) win over Catharina Cardosa (Northern Kentucky), and Simonova steamrolled Didi Steenhuis (Northern Kentucky) 6-0, 6-0.
 
"After one of the match days, the head official came up to me and told me that 'I had to be a good guy because a team is a reflection of its coach'," Goldin said. "And I really felt happy about that and proud of the girls because at the beginning of the year we spent so much time on team identity and how we would want other teams to talk about us or describe us after a match. And the fact that the ref was going out of his way to tell me how respectful our team was to both the officials and their opponents was just a proud-coach moment and right up there with winning to me."
 
The Panthers are now off until the spring schedule opens in January.
 
Horizon League Individual Championships
10/04 to 10/06/2024 at Cleveland, Ohio (Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion)
Singles competition: First Round
Oihane Vicario (Cleveland State) def. Laure Razet (Milwaukee) 7-5, 6-3
Ghada Dirninger (Youngstown State) def. Nadiia Konieva (Milwaukee) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Nikola Nikolajeva (Milwaukee) def. Martyna Piechowicz (Oakland) 6-1, 7-5
Lili Minich (Youngstown State) def. Elisa Rubio (Milwaukee) 6-1, 6-1
Elle Kotre (IU Indianapolis) def. Sara Simonova (Milwaukee) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Emilia Durska (Milwaukee) def. Josie Ward (Oakland) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Singles competition: Second Round
Tereze Vevere (Cleveland State) def. Nikola Nikolajeva (Milwaukee) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
Ashlee Fisk (Northern Kentucky) def. Elisa Rubio (Milwaukee) 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
Singles competition: Back Draw
Laure Razet (Milwaukee) def. Catharina Cardosa (Northern Kentucky) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
Nadiia Konieva (Milwaukee) def. Hanan Awale (IU Indianapolis) 6-2, 6-1
Ella Franz (Cleveland State) def. Elisa Rubio (Milwaukee) 6-3, 6-4
Sara Simonova (Milwaukee) def. Didi Steenhuis (Northern Kentucky) 6-0, 6-0
 
Doubles competition: First Round
Nadiia Konieva/Nikola Nikolajeva (Milwaukee) def. Edie Hammond/Nina Bulut (Oakland) 8-0
Elisa Rubio/Emilia Durska (Milwaukee) def. Hanan Awale/Sofia Castillo (IU Indianapolis) 8-0
Laure Razet/Sara Simonova (Milwaukee) def. Emma Dell/Calli Sokolowski (IU Indianapolis) 9-7
Doubles competition: First Round
Ella Franz/Tereze Vevere (Cleveland State) def. Nadiia Konieva/Nikola Nikolajeva (Milwaukee) 8-4
Lorena Cedeno/Julia Marko (Youngstown State) def. Elisa Rubio/Emilia Durska (Milwaukee) 8-3
Oihane Vicario/Sima Heren (Cleveland State) def. Laure Razet/Sara Simonova (Milwaukee) 8-2