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SPORTS

UW faces Huskies for 2nd straight time in NCAAs

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Also by Jeremy Vuernick:

UW gets final shot at times (March 7, 2008)

by Jeremy Vuernick

Thursday, May 8, 2008

This Saturday morning is sure to serve up some excitement as the University of Wisconsin men’s tennis team heads to Los Angeles after receiving an at-large bid for the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships.

Finishing the season 17-9 (9-3 Big Ten), the No. 33 Badgers fell to Illinois in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, leaving them with an uncertain future. However, Wisconsin’s impressive undefeated home record proved to be enough, as the team received its second NCAA Championship berth in two years.

The Badgers first-round matchup should prove to be an interesting one, as they are pitted against the second-seeded Washington Huskies. Merely one spot above the Badgers, the No. 32 Huskies will be searching for revenge as last season they were defeated by Wisconsin in a 4-3 nail-biter in the NCAA Tournament.

The Badgers will look to improve on last year’s display, as they fell short in the second round, getting swept by Notre Dame.

“It’s going to be a dogfight either way,” senior Jeremy Sonkin said. “It’s the first round of the NCAA’s; nobody wants to go out. We just have to come out well-conditioned, well-prepared, and both mentally and physically fit.”

This week in practice for UW has consisted of mostly outdoor tennis, something they typically don’t do.

“We’re just concentrating on hitting a lot of balls and getting a good rhythm,” Sonkin said. “We haven’t really been playing too much outdoor tennis, so that’s what we’re trying to get a feel for. It’s going to be different conditions in California, so we’re just trying to get ready 100 percent.”

To head coach Greg Van Emburgh, getting in a rhythm is imperative this week as the Badgers’ first-round matchup is sure to be a grueling one.

“It’s going to be a really difficult match for us,” Van Emburgh said. “They are extremely well-coached. Those guys are going to be ready to play, so I think it’s going to be really important for us to — when that first ball is hit — be ready to have a battle right from the beginning.”

Four is the magic number in this one, as the first team to four victories wins.

“It’s going to take all the guys stepping up — at all the positions — and it’s going to take a team effort,” Van Emburgh said. “Last year we beat them 4-3, and it came down to Moritz Baumann’s match for the match. They’re a really strong team and they’re going to be looking for a little bit of revenge from last year. We’re going to need to be ready to go from the start.”

If the Badgers come up on top, they will be facing the winner of Eastern Washington and host-school and overall No. 3 seed UCLA.

”[UCLA is] probably one of three of the top teams in the country,” Van Emburgh said. “We won’t look past Washington and, if we do get through, we’ll go out playing loose and excited to face UCLA at their home court.”

Though the Badgers may have been victorious against the Huskies in the past, they won’t be able to overlook them this time as they take the NCAA Championship one match at a time.

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