It has been a tough month for the University of Wisconsin women's tennis team.

During the last three weeks, the team has had to deal with the challenge of playing four consecutive matches while dealing with injuries to key players senior Caitlin Burke and junior Nicole Beck.

It has been especially trying on head coach Patti Henderson.

"[This past month] has been the first time for me where my team has literally only been able to field six players," Henderson said.

Because of their injuries, both Burke and Beck have been playing more doubles matches until they are healthy enough to resume the more grueling singles competition. While this move does temporarily create issues with matching up other players for doubles spots, it has made the Badgers very strong at the No. 2 doubles spot, as shown by their hard-fought win over Notre Dame's Katie Potts and Kelcy Tefft last Thursday.

The then-No. 3 Irish squad ended up winning the match, but Henderson saw the final score as a poor indicator of how the team played considering the circumstances.

"After a stretch like we had, playing four away matches and then finishing it up with a match against one of the best teams in the country, [Burke and Beck's win] was really important for not only their individual confidence, but for the team's confidence as a whole," Henderson said.

Luckily for the Badgers (3-11 overall, 0-5 Big Ten), the road that lies ahead of them is much less treacherous than the stretch they have already covered. In fact, aside from a regular season finale at Michigan State, Wisconsin will play the rest of its games at home.

First one on that list: Purdue. The Boilermakers have had quite the season, as they are currently undefeated in conference play on a seven-match winning streak.

Henderson believes the good week of practice the squad has had will bode well for the team in Saturday's match.

"Purdue has managed to find their confidence this season as evidenced by their record, but I feel that our players will be very well prepared for them," she said. "Everyone has done a great job at staying positive, and a couple of our players have really elevated their game in that time."

But Purdue isn't the only conference foe Wisconsin will have to face this weekend.

Sunday, the Badgers will face a struggling Illinois squad, which, like Wisconsin, is still searching for its first Big Ten win.

Henderson said the team will be able to use the lessons learned from playing such a tough schedule to their advantage against the Illini, who are currently 4-9 on the season and 0-2 in the Big Ten.

"It will be important for us to capitalize on the strength of our schedule and the quality of the opponents we have played if we want to have success," Henderson said. "When a player learns how to win the little battles in a match, winning the whole thing becomes much easier."

With the chance to grab two conference wins at home in one weekend, Wisconsin hopes to capitalize on the chance to start the last leg of the season on a high note.

As Henderson said, "A big conference win would really bring credence to what we have been working on all along this season and would certainly create a lot of positive energy to feed off of."