University of Wisconsin freshman women's tennis player Chelsea Nusslock found an unwanted surprise in her laundry Wednesday morning. After removing her tennis uniform from the washing machine in her dorm and all was said and dried, Nusslock had brown marks all over her uniform. A sign had just been placed next to the machine. It read, \Water is brown. Please remove clothes.""
Hopefully, Nusslock will not encounter the same problem this weekend when members of the women's tennis team play individual and doubles matches at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championship in Los Angeles. Badger team members will stay with sophomore teammate Madison Sellers' relatives, which is a welcome addition to the players' confidence (and laundry).
""It's definitely a comfort to stay with a teammate's family,"" senior Lindsay Martin said.
Martin, along with fellow senior Katie McGaffigan, will begin play in the qualifying round. The No. 17-ranked doubles team is joined by Nusslock and sophomore Caitlin Burke, currently ranked No. 118 in the country by the ITA.
The ITA Championship is considered an important tournament in the fall tennis season for several reasons, according to 11-year Head Coach Patti Henderson.
""This is the most prestigious tournament in the fall season, at least for individual and doubles play. It is probably second behind the NCAA (championships),"" said Henderson, who has guided the Badgers to six NCAA Tournament appearances. ""Its purpose is to allow players, whether they are freshmen or just improved over the course of the year, to make [the rankings] or move up in the rankings before the dual season begins in the spring.""
Henderson added the ITA Championship is ""pretty unique"" because athletes can begin competition in the pre-qualifying rounds and, if successful, have the opportunity to move into the main-draw.
The Oct. 7-10 main draw is preceded by two sets of qualifying tournaments. The 128-player (64 doubles) pre-qualifying tournament is Oct. 2-4 at UCLA. Four players and doubles teams will advance from there to the Oct. 5-6 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera Country Club, where eight players and four doubles teams will advance to the main draw of 32 athletes.
McGaffigan, currently ranked 42nd in the country, performed well last week at the Furman Fall Classic in Greenville, S.C. She finished with a 1-2 record, but her losses were to Vanderbilt's Audra Falk and Clemson's Julie Coin, ranked fourth and fifth in the country. McGaffigan, who also played in the ITA Championship her sophomore and junior years, will begin individual play in the qualifying round and hopes to be successful.
""I guess one of my goals is to make the main draw in singles or doubles,"" McGaffigan said. ""I have some experience now and it would be really cool.""
Burke and Martin will play in the pre-qualifying round of the singles tournament while Burke and Nusslock will play in the doubles pre-qualifier.
Henderson submitted a bid for her players to compete in the championship before Labor Day, and the ITA committee did not tell Wisconsin which players would travel to California until last week. Though there is little preparation time for the players, Henderson thinks every bit of experience helps their progress.
""Anyone making the main-draw would be great. But I'm not so much focused by the results but on how we're going to get those results,"" Henderson said. ""If we focus on [that], hopefully the results will show down the line.""
