MADISON, Wis. – For the seventh time in nine games, the Wisconsin women's tennis team (3-6) faced a ranked opponent in what has been one of the toughest opening stretches in school history. The Badgers came up just short of tallying their second ranked win of the season on Sunday, suffering an emotional 4-3 loss to No. 66 Utah (7-3) at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

The Badgers' struggles on the doubles courts this year continued Sunday morning. Margo Pletcher and Brianna Turley teamed up to take down Lauren Chypyha and Kendall Kirsch by a score of 6-2. Meanwhile, the duo of Taylor Calton and Luisa Rosa were too much for Lauren Burich and Kelsey Grambeau, as they took the match 6-4, giving Utah a 1-0 cushion heading in singles action.

"I felt like we came out really flat in doubles," said head coach Tina Samara. "In a six-game pro-set you just don't have the luxury of time, so you can't let that happen. We needed to come out ready to go from the first point and I felt like we just didn't come out with the energy we were hoping to and talked about having."

Ekaterina Stepanova led the Badgers on the singles courts, picking up her fifth victory of the spring by knocking off Sarah Richter, 7-5, 6-4. After suffering her first loss of the season on Friday afternoon and dropping the first set Sunday, 44th-ranked Lauren Chypyha bounced back to take down Margo Pletcher, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The victory serves as the 86th victory of Chypyha's career, which is good for sole possession of 7th place on UW's all-time career wins list. She is now only five victories short of cracking the top-five.

In addition, Maria Avgerinos picked up a victory for the Badgers by knocking off Taylor Calton, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 10-8.

Unfortunately, that's all the victories the Badgers were able to pick up on the singles courts, resulting in a 4-3 loss to the 66th-ranked Utes.

"In singles, I think really what this team needs to learn is to play the right way win or lose so that at the very least you can walk away having developed a little bit more than when you got out there. I felt like on most courts we were just hoping for them to give us stuff and at a high level like this, it's not going to happen and you're not going to win any matches. I feel like too many of us are in that mode that we need to get out of."

The Badgers will be back in action on Friday, March 4, as they host No. 59 Illinois. The match is set to begin at 3 p.m. (CT).

Results
Utah 4 – Wisconsin 3
Doubles
1. Pletcher/Turley (UTAH) def. Lauren Chypyha / Kendall Kirsch (UW), 6-2
2. Ekaterina Stepanova / Sydney Rider (UW) vs. Richter/Petrovic (UTAH), 3-5 (unfinished)
3. Calton/Rosa (UTAH) def. Lauren Burich / Kelsey Grambeau (UW), 6-4

Singles
1. Lauren Chypyha (UW) def. Margo Pletcher (UTAH), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
2. Ekaterina Stepanova (UW) def. Sarah Richter (UTAH), 7-5, 6-4
3. Brianna Turley (UTAH) def. Kendall Kirsch (UW), 6-3, 6-0
4. Jena Cheng (UTAH) def. Kelsey Grambeau (UW), 6-4, 6-3
5. Maria Avgerinos (UW) def. Taylor Calton (UTAH), 7-6 (2), 5-7, 10-8
6. Alexia Petrovic (UTAH) def. Lauren Burich (UW), 7-5, 6-2