BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
Taylor Cataldi has a black belt in karate, bold streaks of cardinal red in her hair, and mentions visits to Ireland and Zimbabwe in her bio for the Wisconsin women's tennis team, but when asked to ID the most fascinating member of the squad, she says it's not her.
"I'm probably No. 2 on that list,'' she acknowledged with a grin.
Who then?
Is it Xinyu Cai, a graduate student from China who set the program record for the best winning percentage in singles competition at .894 (17-2) last season and is 9-2 this season, hitting primarily fourth?
How about Alina Mukhortova, a senior from Krasnodar, Russia, who went 18-3 playing doubles with Cai last season?
Is it Maria Sholokhova, a sophom*ore from Sochi, Russia, who was named Big Ten Conference player of the week last week and is on a 13-match win streak?
Or how about Rosie Garcia Gross, a grad student from New York City, who won 52 matches at Georgia Tech before transferring to UW and currently is unbeaten (8-0), hitting out of the sixth spot?
Turns out, the unofficial designee is a junior psychology major from Coconut Creek, Florida, whose passions include writing poetry, volunteering, mental health, and suicide prevention.
Ariel Johnson seems proud of her distinctive ways.
"Yes, I'm very loud,'' she confirmed. "I come out of my shell when I play because I like to be loud.''
Most of her teammates agree.
"When you think of someone you know is going to be completely unafraid and who you know is going to be themselves and help you to be yourself, I think you can point to her for that,'' Cataldi said.
"She brings this energy every day,'' Gross said. "You never know what's going to come out of her mouth. It keeps you on your toes and keeps you entertained. She's everywhere and nowhere all at once. I've never met anyone like her."
While Johnson, who is 10-2 playing No. 4 or 5 singles, is OK with her billing, she believes everyone on the team has their own unique claim to fame.
"I think we're all fascinating in our own way,'' she said. "We have very different personalities, and we kind of all have to make them mesh well so we play well together. I think our backgrounds, our upbrings, are all different and add to the variety, the diversity, of the team.''
What might be the most fascinating aspect of the Badgers is their collective moxie, which has produced the most promising season in decades.
UW has fashioned an 11-match winning streak, which matched the school standard of 11, set in 1996. That's the first and only time the Badgers won a Big Ten title.
Wisconsin is 6-1 in league competition heading into its last two home matches at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Among its most notable victories are a 6-1 decision over Indiana and a 4-2 triumph overIllinois.
"I think the strength of this team is in their unity, it's in their identity of playing for something bigger than themselves, and I think it's in their competitiveness,'' UW coach Kelcy McKenna said. "I think that they play their best when they're playing for each other.
"It's cool. It gave me chills just talking about it. To have a team that is so committed to each other, so committed to the prospects of getting better and just really enjoying the fight and the battle, I think it makes a huge difference in those tough moments to find ways to look for solutions.''
The come-from-behind victory over Illinois gave McKenna her 99th career win at Wisconsin. No. 100 would represent arguably the biggest dual meet victory in program history because second-ranked Michigan makes its first appearance in Madison in three years.
The Badgers, ranked 25th in the nation, will honor Cai, Gross, and Mukhortova – someone from China, a transfer from New York by way of Georgia Tech, and Russia – as part of Senior Day when Michigan State comes to town Sunday.
"I think she intentionally tries to recruit people from a bunch of different backgrounds,'' Cataldi said of McKenna. "I look around and see everyone with a very, very unique story and a very, very unique set of traits that brings them to the table.''
Including Cataldi, who said she hasn't had to put her black belt to use in a campus setting.
"That's a little part of myself that I like to keep as a little fun fact,'' she said. "I do pride myself a little bit on being able to handle a physical confrontation if it ever comes up.''
Cai came to the U.S. from Wuhan and learned to appreciate a less demanding approach to tennis.
Mukhortova and Sholokhova knew each other in Russia – at one point playing doubles together – before immersing themselves in American culture.
McKenna makes it all work.
"We never have a lazy practice,'' Cataldi said. "We never have a quiet practice. When it starts to get into quiet territory, we're quick to jump on that and fix that."
"She pushes us and helps us keep our heads above water even when we think we're drowning.''
Cai said she's come to appreciate the way McKenna goes about her business.
"I think she knows how to push players because she was a player herself,'' Cai said of her eighth-season coach of the Badgers. "She knows what we're good at and what we're not so good at. She works with everyone's game.''
The Wolverines come into Nielsen having won eight Big Ten titles since 2015.
"We really believe in our ability to put a quality product out there, and then I think it comes down to moments,'' McKenna said. "For us, it's important to just note when that moment has arrived and we need to take it. If there's going to be a way through Michigan, it's going to be through big moments.''
Should be a fascinating match.
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