The undefeated Wisconsin Badgers (6-0) continued their hot start to the season on Saturday, sweeping Green Bay 7-0 in the second part of a doubleheader, after defeating Bradley 7-0 in the first match of the day. Short-handed Green Bay, who only had five women competing, was no match for the Badgers who improved to 6-0 on the season — their best start in school history since 1992.
UW dominated early, overwhelming Green Bay in doubles. Freshman MaryAnn Rompf and senior Kelsey Grambeau defeated Theresa Tebon and Tallie Piaskowski 6-1. The Badgers’ other doubles partnership, sophomore Melissa Pick and freshman Lexi Keberle made quick work of Maria Neff and Samm Pedersen, defeating them 6-0.
At first singles, Keberle picked up right where she left off at doubles, defeating Tebon 6-1, 6-1. Keberle is undefeated in both singles and doubles, improving to a 7-0 combined record. At fifth singles, Christina Zordani extended her personal undefeated start in singles play, beating Pedersen 6-0, 6-1. With her victory, Zordani improved to 5-0 on the season.
In the second singles slot, Rompf took down Piaskowski 6-3, 6-1. At third singles, Michelle Linden took down Sterre Tijssens 6-1, 6-0.
In the five slot, Pick completely overpowered Neff, shutting her out 6-0, 6-0.
Head coach Kelcy McKenna attributed their dominant performance, that saw no Badgers drop a set, to the controlables.
“They did a great job with the controlables: their attitude, their effort and their energy,” McKenna said. “Those three things are extremely important to our success.”
In order to maintain their high level of play, McKenna said the Badgers must “concentrate on doing the little things right in practice and making sure everyone is managing the details in the day to day drills and match simulations to make sure we’re ready moving ahead to National Indoors and the rest of our Spring.”
Even though the Badgers have enjoyed a perfect start to the season, McKenna knows there is still room for improvement.
“We need to do a little bit of a better job cleaning up our doubles in terms of serves and returns, making sure that we’re the first team to be aggressive, also making sure we’re hitting our spots on service plays,” McKenna said. “We have to make sure as we move into singles, if we do have the doubles point, that we carry the momentum with us and try to be gritty and not give away free points.”
The Badgers’ next match comes between Feb. 9-12 when UW hosts the National Team Indoor Championship. It’s there that UW will look to extend its undefeated start to the season.
