The UW men's tennis team looks to rebound from Saturday's home loss to No. 29 Michigan as it heads to Bloomington, Ind. to take on Indiana (1-2 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) this Friday. Following that match, the Badgers head to State College, Pa Sunday to take on the No. 46 Nittany Lions of Penn State.
The Badgers (1-2, 8-6) are coming off of a 6-1 loss to the Wolverines last weekend in what they felt should have been a closer match. The team has not lost any confidence and remains as confident as it has been all season. Head coach Greg Van Emburgh stressed the need to be prepared come match time.
[Michigan] came out a little more ready to play.\ Van Emburgh said. ""There's no team this weekend that we can't beat if
we're ready to play.""
It could be disaster if the Badgers do not come out primed to play Friday against a very hot Hoosiers team. Indiana is currently riding a seven-match winning streak, with its most recent triumph coming at No. 46 Penn State, in dominating 6-1 fashion. The upset win was the Hoosiers' first Big Ten victory of the season.
The Hoosiers are also a very tested team, defeating four teams in the top-100 this season. Its only two home losses came against two ranked teams, No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 70 Ball State.
""Indiana's feeling confident right now. They just had a big win against Penn State,"" Van Emburgh said. ""So we're going to have to go in there, and really, it comes down to willing it, who really wants it a little more.""
The doubles point may be a huge factor in getting two victories this weekend. The Badgers have lost all five matches in which they have lost the doubles point. Because the three doubles matches are first in the dual match, it will be important for UW to come out strong and to gain momentum going into the six singles matches.
""[The doubles point] is very important, not only to start up 1-0, but also to gain the mental edge over the team you're playing."" sophomore captain Jeremy Sonkin said.
Sonkin also noted that confidence will be a huge benefit to the team this weekend, especially with there being two road conference road matches.
""Me, as well as the other guys, know that this is one of our biggest weekends coming in,"" Sonkin said. ""So getting two wins here is really big if we want to get to where we want to be in the Big Ten.""
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