Following a break in the schedule of 10 days, the Milwaukee women's tennis team sets course for Florida for a spring break trip that will see them compete against three teams this week.
 
The Panthers will be playing at the United States Tennis Association Center in Orlando, Fla., with matches set for one per day from Tuesday through Thursday.
 
The largest tennis facility in the nation, the state-of-the-art USTA training center features 100 courts and innovative developmental programs, making it a training destination for professional, collegiate and amateur players. The USTA National Campus located on 64 acres and features 32 Plexicusion hard courts, 32 Har-Tru green clay courts, 16 ReBound Ace short courts, eight DecoTurf acrylic cushion courts, six European Terre Davis red clay and six ReBound Ace indoor courts, along with two stadium courts.
 
Milwaukee will battle Connecticut (Tuesday/10:30 a.m.), Morgan State (Wednesday/7 a.m.), and New Jersey Institute of Technology (Thursday/5 p.m.). The matchups will feature two first-time meetings. The only team that the Panthers have played in the past is Connecticut, having gone 0-1 all-time (March of 2000).
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CONNECTICUT: The Huskies saw a program first in the spring of 2024, advancing to the Big East semifinals for the first time. The team finished the season with a 13-8 dual match record while Olivia Wright was a unanimous All-Big East selection. This season, they are off to a very strong start, heading into the match against the Panthers at 10-2 overall and are 5-0 in conference action. UConn has also won four in a row, most recently defeating Marquette, 5-2, March 15 in Orlando. Glenn Marshall is in his 33rd year leading the program. Marshall was named the head coach of the Huskies' men's tennis program in 1992 and the Director of Tennis when he added the head coaching duties of the women's program to his responsibilities in 1997. Chloe Lomans (1404) and Victoria Matos (14-9) lead the way in singles play, with Wright (13-10) and Isabel Petri Bere (13-11) close behind. Wright and Maria Constantinou are an impressive 19-4 in doubles.
 
MORGAN STATE: The Bears went 6-15 a season ago and are led by fifth-year head coach Matt Townes. Morgan State is 3-6 this spring but has played well of late, most recently claiming victories over Hartford CC (W, 7-0 March 11) and Johns Hopkins (W, 4-3 March 14). The team also makes a stop at Saint Leo University (Saint Leo, Fla.) March 18 before battling the Panthers on Wednesday. The team was picked fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason poll.
 
NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: The Highlanders are off to an 8-3 start this season and had what was an eight-match win streak snapped in their most recent action (L, 7-0 at Harvard March 9). The team also visits Stetson March 17 (DeLand, Fla.) before heading to Orlando to take on the Panthers Thursday. Third-year head coach Patricia Piorkowski McDonald led NJIT to a 15-5 overall record a year ago. Statistics/results from singles and doubles play is not available on the NJIT website.
 
NIFTY NIKO
Nikola Nikolajeva was brilliant in helping the Panthers to a 2-0 team record with her recent play. She started things with a huge comeback victory to help Milwaukee to a thrilling and dramatic 4-3 victory over Western Illinois March 1. The match was deadlocked at three points apiece with Nikolajeva left at No. 2 singles to determine the winner. Down 5-1 in the deciding third set, she fought off six match points and then won the tiebreaker 11-9 to send the Panthers to the big victory over the Leathernecks.
 
Then, on Sunday, she moved up a spot to No. 1 singles due to injury and dispatched Whitewater's #1, 6-2, 6-0 as part of a 7-0 MKE victory. She was rewarded with Horizon League Singles Player of the Week honors March 5 for her efforts.
 
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 return home to start Horizon League play, beginning when they host Oakland March 29.