MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers tennis team is celebrating an historic title win.

What You Need To Know

Maria Sholokhova and Lucia Urbanova became the first male or female duo to win the ITA All-American Championships in program history

Sholokhova is the first Badger in program hisotry to capture both the ITA singles and doubles titles

Sholokhova and Urbanova are All-Americans from outside the country (Russia and Czech Republic)

Two members of the tennis team accomplished something no other Badgers duo has done before: Win the doubles championship at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships. 

The team is made up of Maria Sholokhova and Lucia Urbanova. 

Sholokhova is a senior tennis player who moved to the United States, from her home country of Russia, three years ago.

She is the first Badger in program history to capture both the ITA singles and doubles titles.

(Spectrum News 1/Geno Perez)

“The last season was pretty great, that was my best season so far,” said Sholokohva. “Hopefully this year we’re only going to keep on improving and also in doubles with Lucy, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Her duo partner freshman Urbanova moved to the United States from the Czech Republic a month ago.

Urbanova said winning the title was better than she could have hoped for.

“I didn’t know how big this tournament is. And yeah, I mean, every time I’m playing, I’m trying to leave everything on the court. So, I was trying to do my best, of course, but I didn’t know how big is it. And then I’m actually like All-American. I didn’t know what it is, and then they told me, I was like, ‘wow, this is amazing.’”

Urbanova and Sholokhova have only played as a team for a short amount of time.

Urbanova said they are “baseline grinders” who play aggressively to win points, sets and matches.

“Maria is an amazing player. I think we are a really good team together and we can have a really good spring season,” said Urbanova.

(Spectrum News 1/Geno Perez)

With the recent win, the duo qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships that will be held in Orlando, Florida in November.

Sholokhova said she is happy with how far she has come since moving to Wisconsin her freshman year.

“I’m really proud of those results of winning the All-Americans, first time in singles for the Badgers and then this year winning first time in doubles with Lucy,” said Sholokhova. “So really proud of what I achieved, but hopefully I’ll get some more achievements this year.”