The winter season is winding down, and the spring sports are at their breaking point. Men’s and Women’s Tennis at the University of Wisconsin-Superior has already started their season, but not outside quite yet.
They’re currently playing indoors, and the Women’s team is off to a hot start. They beat Macalester College 5-2 and Concordia University Wisconsin 6-1. Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams are led by head coach Ceejay Schaffner, and he’s excited for both teams. “The women are playing well right now, no doubt about that. It’s been a fun start to the season beating two teams we have never beat before on the women’s side,” said Schaffner.
Junior Brooke Wilfong believes that their age is helping. “It also helps that we have an older team than we have had in the past,” said Wilfong.
Moving over to the Men’s team, they haven’t had the same start. Their first match against Luther College ended in a 7-0 loss, and their second match against Macalester College ended in a close 4-3 loss. “The men are fine. We’ve played some really tough teams so far, so I’m not worried about anything for them,” said Schaffner. Sophomore Sharan Kanugovi is excited about what the team can show this year. “We have a couple of new freshmen on the tennis team that are getting better. We had a really good team last year, but I think this year we are more pumped up to play,” said Kanugovi.

Men’s Tennis Looks To Take Down Conference Foes
Photo by Andrew Mathews | The Promethean

The Men’s team is predicted to finish first in the North Division of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, but they have higher goals they are aiming for. “We are trying to beat Greenville and Principia in the conference matches,” said Kanugovi. The UW-Superior Men’s team is coming off a UMAC Championship loss to Greenville last year and is looking for revenge coming into conference play.
The Women’s team is predicted to finish second in the North Division of the UMAC just behind Northwestern. UW-Superior appeared in the UMAC Championship last year against Principia College; in that match, they lost 5-1.
Even with all these high-ranked predictions, Schaffner is trying to make each player’s job as easy as possible: go out and have fun. “We live by the saying – no expectations. So, we treat every match the same – go out there, have fun, compete hard, and support each other on and off the court,” said Schaffner.

Women’s Tennis Hope To Capture Conference Crown
Photo by Andrew Mathews | The Promethean

Helping out with making things easy on the court is the leadership he’s getting from both teams despite having no seniors. “While not old, we aren’t extremely young either. We’re relying on our Juniors who have been around for a few years now. They know what is going on day by day and month by month and help give the younger players all the information they need to be successful,” said Schaffner. “I have been trying to help the younger girls with anything they need. I feel like I have taken on somewhat of a leadership role on the team even though we don’t have captains,” said Wilfong.