Women’s tennis coach Matt McCaskill said that he believes he did an okay job recruiting both last year and this year. He couldn’t have been more wrong about that statement.

Freshman Jenna Flesher, Sammi Schoen, Martina Schnapp and sophomores Kari Kastenholz and Kelly Drvaric are much more than “okay.”

Saturday was a big day for Panther tennis as freshman Jenna Flesher and Sammi Schoen went undefeated, along with sophomores Kari Kastenholz and Kelly Drvaric to trounce River Falls and Whitewater. After a disappointing 6th place finish in the Horizon League last year, and an unlucky finish at Bradley last week, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee had a lot to play for. First off, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has always been a thorn in the side of this tennis team. Secondly, this year’s team is a young team; with only 2 upperclassmen (Junior Lauren Fenley and Senior Traci Litscher), they have a lot to prove.

Prove it they did. Kelly Drvaric, who had a turn around performance at Whitewater talked a little about the young squad and how the end of the year might look. “I’m really excited because we are a very young team and a really restless one so I’m really excited. Last year we took 6th place but I’m thinking we could take 4th, even 3rd. It will be tough but we always hope for 1st.”

Kari Kastenholz (All-Horizon League Second Team in 2006), who went 0-3 in singles and 1-1 in doubles at Bradley, played stellar tennis and coined it all to experience from last year. “I think that we all have a year of experience under our belt and we’ve all improved. Ashley (Schoneman), Kelly and I all improved greatly.”

Martina Schnapp, the Slovakian native who has lived in Michigan, Florida, and now settled down in calm and comfortable Milwaukee, gives us a look at one problem playing in Florida to moving up here. “Coming from Florida it’s a really weird feeling playing when it’s this cold but I just try to do my best and focus on every point and not give up.” Wise words from the freshman; her counterparts Jenna and Sammi both went undefeated, giving this young team some real fire.

In an interview with coach McCaskill reacted well to their performance on Saturday. “We did as well as I thought we would do. River Falls has a really good team and Whitewater always comes and does a great job, but we just stood our ground and took care of business. Jenna, Sammi, and Martina are really adjusting well. I couldn’t be happier after this weekend.”

We couldn’t be happier either, coach.

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