The Michigan State women’s tennis team notched its third win in a row, defeating Marquette Sunday afternoon. The Spartans took care of the Golden Eagles 6-1 to improve to 4-2 overall on the year.
MSU jumped out in front quickly as junior Ayshe Can and sophomore Liisa Vehvilainen took care of senior Elisabeth Desmarais and junior Emilija Kojcic of Marquette 6-3. The chemistry between the Spartan duo was a noticeable advantage, allowing their teammates to build off the energy.
The Golden Eagles weren’t ready to give up, as senior Julieanne Bou and junior Lara Kaiser responded with a 6-2 win over MSU’s freshman Marley Lambert and graduate student Nicole Conard.
With the Spartans needing one more win to clinch the doubles point, the freshman pair of Juliette Nask and Issey Purser pulled through when it mattered the most. They came out firing against Marquette’s senior duo of Tiana Windbuchler and Giulia Turconi, winning the set 6-2.
Michigan State’s youth proved to be the difference maker early once again as they jumped out to an early 1-0 overall match lead in the afternoon.
Vehvilainen continued her dominant day in singles. She controlled the first set in her favor, picking up a 6-2 win over Bou. Vehvilainen showed no signs of slowing down as she comfortably took the second set 6-1, adding to the Spartans lead.
Head Coach Kim Bruno had nothing but encouraging words for her super sophomore.
“She’s a baller,” Bruno said. “She’s Impressed me all year, there’s nothing more to say…She’s been carrying this squad all year.”
Marquette took its only singles win of the day by the courtesy of Kojcic. She defeated Can 6-3 twice in two sets.
The Spartans were not bothered by the Golden Eagles’ efforts to linger around. Freshman Issey Purser helped get MSU back on track by earning a comeback victory against freshman Emma Davis. Purser dropped the first set 6-2, but responded with a gritty 6-3 second set win to pair with a statement 6-0 third set victory for the freshman.
The momentum carried throughout the facility as senior Tia Mukherjee stepped up as an injury replacement to obtain a back-and-forth win over Turconi. Muhkerjee came from behind in both sets, stealing a 7-5 win in the first set and grabbing a 7-6 in the second to extend MSU’s lead.
Conard continued the trend of grinding out wins for the Spartans as she defeated Desmarais in three tight sets. Conard fell early, losing the first set 6-4, though she persevered to gut out 6-3 and 6-4 wins in the second and third sets to allow the Spartans to come from behind once again.
Conard explained how she was able to keep her composure in such a close scenario as her opponent grew visibly frustrated.
“I always keep my composure pretty well,” Conard said. “I think that’s something that’s a strength of mine. She was getting a little frustrated and that’s always encouraging to me.”
Conard’s serve also proved to be a dominant essence of her game to help her close out the singles victory.
“My serve has definitely always been a strength,” Conard said. “When I'm in a tight match I just try and hit aces.”
Nask was able to put the emphasis on the victory for the Spartans in similar fashion. Nask dropped the first set to Kaiser 6-2 and was forced to come back once again for MSU. Nask responded in the second set, winning 6-3, and ultimately closed out the third set 7-6 with a significant display of energy.
The Spartans' performance along with their new winning streak is something hard to ignore for Coach Bruno.
“It is never easy to win,” Bruno said. “Everyone is out there and has a high level so we just need to bring it everytime. There was less holes today, you know. Even though we dropped some sets we were able to kind of tough it out and come back even when we were behind, so that's a testament to them.”
Bruno also explained in their last match against Bowling Green that the team hadn’t been accustomed to winning just yet, though the girls seem to be getting a taste of that by experiencing challenging moments in matches such as this afternoon.
The Spartans are back in action against Marshall this Friday, Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
