With the non-conference portion of the season behind it, the Milwaukee women's tennis team opens Horizon League action this weekend when it travels to Michigan Saturday to battle Oakland.
 
The Panthers and Golden Grizzlies are set to get underway at 3:30 p.m. CT in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, at the Bloomfield Township Tennis and Health Club.
 
The Panthers head into action after posting a 6-8 mark to date, most recently wrapping up its spring trip with challenging matches against Chattanooga and Georgia Gwinnett, the No. 1 ranked team at the NAIA level.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Oakland is coming off a season in which it went 5-12 overall and 1-5 in Horizon League action. The team was ranked No. 6 in the league preseason poll and is led by first-year head coach David Brown, who had served as a coach for adults and junior athletes at the Peachtree Tennis Club in Clinton Township since August 2021.
 
The team went 4-8 in its non-league schedule, closing out the slate with three losses in its final four matchups, falling to Wayne State (L, 7-0 March 24) and Bowling Green (L, 5-2 March 17) in most recent action. The OU website does not list any current statistics from the 2023-24 campaign.
 
UP TO THE CHALLENGE
The Panthers took on Georgia Gwinnett March 21, a program that is ranked No 1 at the NAIA level and has won the past seven consecutive National Championships. Milwaukee may have dropped the doubles point, but Nadiia Konieva and Babette Burgersdijk provided an early highlight, taking down GGC's tandem of Stephanie Fernandez and Iryna Lysykh, 6-3, at No. 1.
 
The impressive victory came against the No. 3 ranked doubles team in the nation which dropped their record to 12-1 on the season.
 
In singles, it was Evelina Anastasi who made her mark, topping No. #66 Carol Mora in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5), at the No. 6 singles line.
 
PILING UP THE WINS
Nadiia Konieva is off to an impressive start to the season and now sits at 15-4 overall on the campaign in singles play. She is also 10-3 at No. 2 and had her 10-mtach winning streak snapped against Wisconsin March 16. At 10 in a row, she tied with the longest singles victory streak by a Panther since Mayya Perova went for 10 in a row in the spring of 2022.
 
Laure Razet is second with 10 wins (10-9), while Sara Simonova is third with nine. In doubles, Iva Stejskalova stands alone at 15 wins (15-5 overall) and has combined with Emilia Durska to go 10-3 and claim wins six consecutive matches at one point. Konieva (13-7) is runner-up in doubles victories.
 
IT'S A SWEEP
The Panthers swept the Horizon League Under Armour Player of the Week awards Feb. 7, when Sara Simonova was named the Horizon League Singles Player of the Week, while Simonova and Babette Burgersdijk partnered up to be selected as the Horizon League Doubles Team of the Week.
 
Simonova went 2-0 on the week and is the first MKE player to earn the league singles honor since Mayya Perova in March of 2022. In sweeping the awards with Burgersdijk (the duo also went 2-0 against North Dakota and Bradley), it marked the first time MKE tennis has accomplished that league feat of all three accolades at once since February of 2021 when Greta Carbone (singles) and Mayya Perova/Nikki Milner (doubles) were honored.
 
NEW LEADERSHIP AT THE TOP 
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.
  
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 27-13 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. The team is 4-2 so far in 2024 as well.
 
UP NEXT
The team will return home next weekend, set for a busy weekend of conference matches. Saturday the Panthers host Cleveland State, followed by a visit from Youngstown State Sunday. Both matches are set to get underway at 1 p.m. at River Glen Elite.