Wisconsin came home empty handed from its Michigan road trip, after getting swept 4-0 by both the No. 9 Michigan Wolverines (5-0 Big Ten, 13-3 overall) Friday and the Michigan State Spartans (4-1, 14-4) Sunday.
Friday, the Wolverines’ clinched the doubles’ point in dominating fashion to set the tone for the night. Michigan’s Kate Fahey and Chiara Lommer swept freshman Christina Zordani and senior Sydney Rider 6-0 in the No. 2 line, and the freshmen pair of Michelle Linden and Melissa Pick fell to Kara Hall and Alex Najarian 6-2. The other doubles match was abandoned, but it was a similar story, as Wisconsin’s team of Kelsey Grambeau and Maria Avgerinos was down 5-2 when it was called.
It was more of the same in the singles matches, as the Badgers (0-7, 4-12) struggled against the highly rated Wolverines. Grambeau lost a pair of matches 6-1 in the No. 2 line, and Zordani was blown out 6-2, 6-1 by Annie Wierda in the No. 6 line. Linden lost her first set 6-0 and dropped the second 6-4.
Pick performed well in the No. 5 line, sweeping her first set and leading her match against Michigan’s Hall 5-4 before the match was abandoned when the Wolverines clinched. It was the lone bright spot for the Badgers, with UW trailing in the two other abandoned matches.
Against Michigan State, the Badgers’ struggles continued, especially in the singles matches. Avgerinos was defeated at the No. 1 line 6-1, 6-2 by Michigan State’s Aslina Chua, and Grambeau fell 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 2 line. The Badgers also were swept in the doubles matches after the Spartans won in their Top 2 lines. With Rider’s 6-1, 6-3 loss to Davina Nguyen, the Spartans clinched the match and UW remained winless in Big Ten play.
Pick again provided silver lining for the Badgers. The freshman from Albuquerque, N.M., trailed early at 4-2 to Athena Trouillot, but she fought back tie it at 5. However, Trouillot got the best of her, and broke Pick’s serve to win the set before the match was abandoned after Michigan State clinched the victory.
Next, the Badgers host Indiana and Purdue in two weekends at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
