Heading into this weekend's Big Ten Tournament, the Wisconsin men's tennis team knows the time is now to showcase its talents on a big stage. While this year may not be its\ year, the young Badgers are pleased with the progress that has been made, and want a chance to show the Big Ten a taste of the future with this weekend's play.
""From the beginning of the fall until now, we're like five times better,"" sophomore Nolan Polley said. ""We may not have gotten some of the wins this year, but we've been close [in every match].""
""We've built a great foundation, and we're only going to get better,"" sophomore Jeremy Sonkin added.
As the No. 8 seed in the tournament, the Badgers (10-11 overall, 3-7 Big Ten) will take on ninth-seeded Purdue (8-14, 3-7) Thursday at 9 a.m. The Boilermakers enter the tournament coming off of a weekend home split, defeating Iowa 4-3 before falling 7-0 to Minnesota. UW has won its last three matches against Purdue, and soundly defeated the Boilermakers 6-1 April 16 in Madison. Purdue has not won a Big Ten Tournament match since 2002.
With a win, UW will face No. 1 seed Ohio State Friday at 10 a.m. Currently ranked No. 7 in the country, the Buckeyes were a perfect 10-0 in the Big Ten and compiled a 22-1 record overall. OSU is very versatile, with four players nationally ranked in singles, and four players capturing victories this season at the No. 1 spot. Additionally, nine different Buckeyes have posted conference wins. The Badgers faced them in their final Big Ten dual match of the season, April 23, and were downed 6-1 in Columbus.
Although the Big Ten regular season champs would be a huge obstacle to overcome, the Badgers will play their matches relaxed and loose, as if they have nothing to lose. Also, because the match will be played at a neutral site, neither team will be given any sort of outside advantage.
""With us, every time we win the match it's a team effort. All the guys have really got to pitch in,"" head coach Greg Van Emburgh said in Monday's press conference. ""We get through that Purdue match and we just play loose, with nothing to lose, and go after [Ohio State] again.""
The backbone of this team is its top two singles players and No. 1 doubles duo, sophomores Jeremy Sonkin and Nolan Polley. Both players, along with Van Emburgh, believe they can be national top 30 players within the next season. This weekend is vital in showing that they belong.
""I'm really confident right now, I'm playing well, so I'm going to try and go in and help my team try and get a couple of wins,"" said Polley, who won the Big Ten Singles Championship last fall.
""I want to set myself up pretty good for the rankings to come out next year, and hopefully I can be up there pretty high,"" Sonkin said.
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