MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin women's tennis team continued its tough stretch in scheduling and battled No. 30 William & Mary, but ultimately fell, 4-3, in a match that lasted nearly three and a half hours at Nielsen Tennis Stadium on Sunday.

Facing their fifth top-30 team of the season, the Badgers (3-8, 0-2) looked good out of the gate, but were unable to knock off the Tribe (10-4, 1-0) in Madison.

"I feel bad for this team in a way because we're 3-8 on the season, yet we've played an extremely tough schedule that has included five top-30 teams, three of which were top-10 teams," head coach Tina Samara said. "We've played these teams a lot better than we expected and we've lost a lot of really close matches. We built our schedule like this to prepare us to be really good come Big Ten Conference play.

"As long as our team stays mentally strong and takes these losses with a positive attitude instead of getting down, which I think they will, we'll be just fine."

On the doubles court, Kelsey Grambeau and Lauren Burich made quick work of Julia Casselbury and Cecily Wuenscher, 6-0, marking the duo's team-high fifth doubles victory of the spring and 19th of the year together. Shortly after, Marie Faure and Elizaveta Nemchinov knocked off Lauren Chypyha and Kendall Kirsch, 6-2, which left the doubles point to be decided on court 2.

Maria Groener and Lauren Goodman cruised to a quick 5-1 lead over Ekaterina Stepnova and Sydney Rider. Fortunately, Stepanova and Rider found their rhythm and pushed the match to 5-4, but ultimately came up a little short, as Groener and Goodman clinched the doubles point for William & Mary with a 6-4 victory.

On the singles courts, Ekaterina Stepanova got off to a hot start and moved to 12-4 on the year and 6-3 this spring with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 victory over Marie Faure.

The Tribe responded by winning two matches on courts 3 and 6, as Maria Groener and Lauren Goodman knocked off Lauren Burich and Maria Avgerinos, 6-2, 6-1, and 6-2, 7-6 (10-8), respectively.

Olivia Thaler clinched the match for the Tribe after bouncing back from a first set loss to knock off Kelsey Grambeau, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Following the clinching match, No. 44 Lauren Chypyha topped No. 89 Elizaveta Nemchinov, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1). The victory served as the 88th of Chypyha's career, which is good for sole possession of sixth place on UW's all-time career wins list.

In addition, Kendall Kirsch knocked off Julia Casselbury, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7).

Up next, Wisconsin hosts top-ranked Ohio State at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on March 18. The match is set to begin at 5 p.m. (CT) in Madison.

Results
William & Mary 4 - Wisconsin 3
Doubles
1. Faure/Nemchinov (W&M) def. Lauren Chypyha / Kendall Kirsch (UW), 6-2
2. Groener/Goodman (W&M) def. Ekaterina Stepanova / Sydney Rider (UW), 6-4
3. Kelsey Grambeau / Lauren Burich (UW) def. Casselbury/Wuenscher (W&M), 6-0

Singles
1. No. 44 Lauren Chypyha (UW) def. Elizaveta Nemchinov (W&M), 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1)
2. Ekaterina Stepanova (UW) def. Marie Faure (W&M), 6-2, 6-0
3. Lauren Goodman (W&M) def. Maria Avgerinos (UW), 6-2, 7-6
4. Kendall Kirsch (UW) def. Julia Casselbury (W&M), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7)
5. Olivia Thaler (W&M) def. Kelsey Grambeau (UW), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
6. Maria Groener (W&M) def. Lauren Burich (UW), 6-2, 6-1