The Gophers women’s tennis team extended its winning streak over the Badgers to six matches on Friday.
Minnesota defeated Wisconsin 5-2 in the team’s first dual of the weekend. The Gophers fell 4-3 to Utah the following day in Madison, Wis.
“It’s such a tough environment, and they have a really raucous crowd. They get into it, and they are kind of [an] in-your-face type crowd. And their team is really high-spirited,” head coach Chuck Merzbacher said. “It’s one of those victories where we kept our composure and just did a great job.”
Minnesota won the doubles point against the Badgers with victories in the No. 1 and 2 spots.
The Gophers went 4-2 in singles to earn the 5-2 victory overall. Minnesota sealed the dual when sophomore Caroline Ryba defeated her opponent in the No. 1 singles spot.
“[Freshman Camila Vargas Gomez] at No. 6 was really close to winning her match, but she lost second set, so I knew that,” Ryba said. “I knew [I could clinch it], and it was really exciting.”
Minnesota also won the doubles point against Utah to go up 1-0, but the team dropped four of six singles matches to lost 4-3.
“It was just a tough assignment to keep it up, and that’s just kind of part of it,” Merzbacher said. “We spent a lot of effort in getting that Wisconsin win. We almost went back to back and got two wins but just fell a little bit short.”
Men’s team wins two
The men’s tennis team defeated Army 7-0 and Illinois State 6-1 at home on Saturday.
The Gophers won the doubles point against Army with victories in the No. 1 and 3 doubles spots.
Minnesota then won all six singles matches to win the dual. Sophomore Felix Corwin played through a wrist injury that he said prevents him from hitting backhand.
“With more matches, I’ve gotten more confortable,” Corwin said. “I’m not surprised I did well today because I’ve had experience with previous matches with it.”
The Gophers also won the doubles point against Illinois State with victories in all three spots. The freshmen pairing of Josip Krstanovic and Justyn Levin won both doubles matches Saturday.
“I think they went after their serves well and were pretty aggressive at the net, so that was good. And I think they were rewarded for it,” head coach Geoff Young said.
Minnesota won five of the six singles matches to defeat the Redbirds. Levin lost 17-15 in the third set tiebreaker in the one match Minnesota conceded.
“We just want to make sure that every match we play we’re just really challenging ourselves to make improvements in our game,” Young said.
