â??With four freshmen in the lineup, weâ??re making nice adjustments and moving along quickly.â?

Freshman Ali O“Neal went 4-0 to help lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women“s tennis team to a pair of dual match victories over Creighton, 4-3, and Coe College, 6-1, last weekend in Cedar Rapids.

O“Neal won both her singles and doubles matches and also received the Horizon League Player of the Week honors. Her two singles victories came in the No. 4 slot, where she defeated Lindsey Driscoll of Coe 6-0, 6-1 and then claimed a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Lindsey Erickson of Creighton.

O“Neal paired up with Kelly Drvaric at No. 1 doubles to defeat Creighton 9-8 and then joined up with Traci Litscher for an 8-5 victory over Coe at #3 doubles.

In the Panthers match against Creighton, UWM won all of its singles matches to help claim a nail-biting 4-3 victory that would come down to the final match. Drvaric (No. 2 singles) and Litscher (No. 6 singles) won three set matches while O“Neal (No. 4 singles) and Ashley Schoneman won in straight sets.

The dual match was tied at 3-3 when Litscher won a thrilling three-set match to give Milwaukee the win over Creighton, 4-3.

Against Division III Coe, the Panthers coasted to an easy victory. UWM claimed five of the six singles matches while also claiming a doubles point for the first time this season. Drvaric won No. 1 singles in a tiebreaker while Kari Kastenholz (No. 2 singles), O“Neal (No. 4 singles), Schoneman (No. 5 singles) and Lauren Fenley (No. 6 singles) all won in straight sets.

With the two victories UWM improves to 4-3 on the season.

“We are much improved this year,” said head coach Matt McCaskill. “With four freshmen in the lineup, we“re making nice adjustments and moving along quickly. Things are going well.”

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