The UW women’s tennis team will finish its regular-season home schedule this weekend as the team hosts Michigan Saturday and Michigan State Sunday. This weekend will offer the Badgers a good tune-up for the Big Ten championships, which begin next Thursday.
UW is currently seventh in the Big Ten with a record of 5-3, but the team is looking to gain momentum before entering next weekend’s championships.
“This weekend is going to be our last home matches, so we want to get two W’s,” Assistant coach Martina Kopacova said, “It would help us to feel good about ourselves going into the Big Ten (tournament).”
Michigan is currently ranked No. 48 in the nation and No. 5 in the Big Ten with an overall record of 12-6 and a conference mark of 5-3.
When asked what she was expected from Michigan this weekend, Shana McElroy, UW’s No. 2 singles player said, “They always come out fighting and are really feisty on the court and we need to expect that, and it would be a really good match for us to win.”
Michigan’s No. 1 singles player, Michelle DaCosta, is 6-2 in the Big Ten and will offer UW’s Linde Mues a difficult challenge this weekend. Mues is currently 2-6 in conference singles play. Regardless of who her opponent is, Mues is going to enter the match with a definite game plan.
“Were just going to have to take this match to them,” Mues said. “I don’t think it matters how they’ve been playing.”
The Wolverines’ Leanne Rutherford is the most underrated player on Michigan’s team and will likely pose a problem for Wisconsin wherever she plays. This season Leanne has played almost equal time at both the three and four spots. In the third spot she is 8-1, and in the fourth spot she has been just as tough with a 7-1 record. Michigan’s depth may be its strongest characteristic; Rutherford has excelled near the bottom of its top five, but her exceptional winning percentage of .750 is not even the best on the team.
Debra Streifler is undefeated in conference play for the Wolverines at 5-0. In matches throughout conference and non-conference play this season she is 3-1 in the fifth spot and 5-1 in the sixth spot.
Michigan boasts strong doubles play as well. DaCosta and Rutherford have teamed up to go 6-2 thus far in the Big Ten, and 17-12 overall. Streifler and Chrissie Nolan are the other dominant team for the Wolverines. They are 6-1 in conference matches, and 10-2 overall with a winning percentage of .833. The Badgers took two of three matches in doubles play this January against the Wolverines at a tournament hosted by Michigan that occurred before conference play began. The Badgers will be looking to match that effort this Saturday.
Michigan State comes to Madison Sunday with an 8-12 overall record, and a last place position in the Big Ten with eight losses in eight conference matches. The Spartans’ record is not telling of what they are capable of however.
“They have had some injuries this year, so that’s why they have been struggling,” Kopacova said. “But every time you step on the court it’s 50/50.”
Caroline Lay will be a formidable opponent for UW’s No. 2 spot, McElroy. Last spring Lay led the Spartans in overall wins (41), singles wins (25), singles winning percentage (.714) and Big Ten singles wins (seven). She has a team leading 30 wins so far this year.
Lay had played in the No. 1 spot for Michigan State until its last two matches. Since then it appears sophomore Keri Thompson has firmly secured the No. 1 spot for the Spartans. Thompson lost her first match at No. 1 against Purdue last Saturday, but then came back strong to defeat Illinois’ No. 1 player, the No. 69 player in the NCAA, to improve to 1-1 at No. 1.
“This is a team we’re expecting to beat, but we can’t look past them,” McElroy said, “we definitely haven’t had any easy matches this year but I think it’s one we can built confidence off of going into the Big Ten tournament.”
Every team in the Big Ten plays in the Big Ten tournament, but to advance to the NCAA tournament a team either has to win its conference tournament or receive an at large bid.
“With the position we’re in right now we would pretty much have to win the Big Ten to get in the NCAA’s,” McElroy said.
