Coming off its first-ever defeat of Marquette, the Milwaukee women's tennis team looks to ride a strong start to the season into a pair of road matches this weekend. Up first for the team is a stop at nationally-ranked University of Chicago Friday, followed by a visit to Valparaiso Saturday afternoon.
 
The Panthers open play Friday night against the Maroons, set to get underway from XS Tennis in Chicago, Ill., at 5 p.m. Then it is on to Indiana to battle the Beacons Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT, competing at The Courts of NWI.
 
The Panthers are off to a 3-2 start, coming off a weekend of play that saw the team battle two very strong opponents Friday, falling shorthanded to both Wisconsin and Northern Illinois due to both injury and illness. The team responded quickly, coming up with a first-ever defeat of Marquette Saturday, winning 4-3 after Emilia Durska closed out the victory at No. 5 singles to pick up the clinching point.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CHICAGO: Milwaukee is a perfect 3-0 all-time against the University of Chicago, with most recent action coming via a 6-1 victory back in February of 2016. The only road decision in the series saw MKE earn a 6-1 win in 2013.
 
The Maroons are unbeaten this spring at 3-0, coming off a pair of wins Sunday. The team defeated both Kalamazoo (W, 7-0) and No. 19 Kenyon College (W, 6-1) to continue its strong start. Chicago is an NCAA Division III member and is one of the top-ranked programs in the country this season, sitting at No. 2 in the most recent ITA team rankings. They are coming off a season in which they played for the national title for the third year in a row, this time earning the NCAA Championship after topping Wesleyan, 5-3, to finish the campaign with an impressive 23-1 overall record. In the process, the team also captured its third consecutive University Athletic Association regular-season title.
 
Now in year No. 13, head coach Jay Tee has built and developed two of the premier tennis squads in all of NCAA Division III. Over his 11 years at the helm, Tee's players have earned 56 All-American honors. His teams own a combined dual record of 333-106 (.758 winning percentage). Shianna Guo (18-2 in singles last year) leads the way for the returners, part of a roster that went 102-21 in singles play a year ago.
 
VALPARAISO: Milwaukee has gone 19-6 against the Beacons all-time, with many of those matchups coming when Valpo was in the Horizon League. The Panthers have dropped the most recent two meetings – both 4-3 decisions in 2023 and 2022 – but that snapped what was an impressive run by Milwaukee in the series. The Panthers won 13 consecutive matches between the two programs from 2008 through 2021, including nine 7-0 sweeps.
 
The Beacons are 3-2 this season, with all three victories coming in the fall. Recent form saw the team drop a 4-1 decision to SIUE Jan. 26 and a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Western Michigan Feb. 1. The team was picked to finish in the top half of the standings, tabbed fourth of nine in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll. In his fifth season last year, head coach Bob Modesto led the team to its third straight year with a double-figure win total, finishing 10-13. Prior to that stretch, the team had not enjoyed a double-figure win total since 2007. Modesto's group once again earned the Valpo athletic department's highest team GPA, winning the Team Academic Award for the third straight season.
 
The roster is led in singles by Jolene Fernandes (10-3), Moira Silva (9-3), and Naomi Lalonde (7-3).
 
MAKING HISTORY
Milwaukee and Marquette have been meeting regularly for much of the past two decades, with the Golden Eagles unbeaten in the series – until Feb. 2 that is. The Panthers won the doubles point against the Golden Eagles and then had to wait until the very end to close out the match, with Emilia Durska coming through with the three-set come-from-behind win to give MKE its first victory in program history over its city rival.
 
That gives Milwaukee a perfect 2-0 record against the Big East this season. In addition to the win over Marquette, the Panthers also defeated Providence, 6-1, back on Jan. 26, marking the first MKE victory over a team from the Big East since February of 2007.
 
OFF AND RUNNING
Nadiia Konieva and Nikola Nikolajeva were selected as the Under Armour Horizon League Tennis Doubles Team of the Week Jan. 29. The honor is the second of Konieva's time with the Panthers and a career-first for Nikolajeva.
 
Konieva and Nikolajeva played a key role in the Panthers to a 2-0 week to open the season, getting things underway with a strong start in doubles in both matches. They defeated Bradley, 6-3, Friday, and followed that up with a 6-0 blanking of Providence Sunday - winning both at No. 1 doubles.
 
YEAR NO. 2 LOADING
Expectations for the new season are high for the Panthers and second-year head coach Mark Goldin. The Panthers went 9-12 overall last season, finishing the year as the No. 4 seed (3-3 record) for the Horizon League Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the opening round. The team was selected third in the 2025 Horizon League preseason poll.
 
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 as the assistant general manager at Elite Sports Club in Mequon.

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 and three freshmen. Leading the way for the returners is Nadiia Konieva, who finished last season with a singles record of 17-9 and a doubles ledger of 17-8. Her 17 wins led the team in singles play and her 17 doubles victories finished second on the squad and just one off the lead, playing primarily at No. 2. That followed All-Horizon League First Team honors as well as the Horizon League Freshmen of the Year accolades following an outstanding first season with the Panthers.
 
FALL FESTIVITES
This fall, Milwaukee competed in three different tournaments, visiting Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio. Emilia Durska (5-2) and freshman Nikola Nikolajeva (5-3) led the way in singles with five victories apiece. In doubles play, Nadiia Konieva and Nikolajeva teamed up at No. 1 the entire schedule and paced the Panthers with a 7-3 record.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers have been stellar at home of late, going 29-13 over the past four-plus years, including a 10-3 mark in 2021.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers will entertain another busy weekend next, starting with a match at UIC Friday. Then, it's home against St. Thomas Saturday before closing out the three-matches-in-three-days run with a trip to Northwestern Sunday.