The Wisconsin men’s tennis team (7-11 overall, 1-6 conference) heads into the backstretch of the Big Ten schedule this weekend facing No. 75 Purdue (3-12, 0-6) and No. 2 Illinois (16-3, 6-0). The Badgers dominated No. 57 Minnesota last Friday 7-0, notching their first conference win of the season before falling to No. 30 Rice 2-4 on Saturday.
Senior Captain Alex Kasarov led Wisconsin by winning both of his singles matches and joining his brother Lachezar in winning his doubles matches against Minnesota.
“The last couple of matches, [Alex] is playing at a level where he is a top-20 player in the country,” head coach Pat Klingelhoets said. “Unfortunately it is going to be very hard for him to make the NCAA right now just because he took some losses earlier in the year that are going to hurt him, but he is at a level with any of the best players in the country right now.”
Kasarov feels confident as he heads down the final weeks of the schedule and his career.
“I know how good I can play; I’m confident,” Kasarov said. “I just got to go out there and get everything together, and if I do that, there are very few people that can beat me in the country.”
The elder Kasarov is not the only Badger feeling more confident after sweeping Minnesota for their first conference win this season.
“[Beating Minnesota] helped the guys a lot,” Klingelhoets said. “I think it kind of took the pressure off. The nice thing was that everybody played well. It wasn’t like we only had four or five guys play well; everybody played well. I think it helped everybody, gave everybody some confidence.”
Wisconsin hopes to continue their Big Ten success against two very difficult opponents in Purdue and Illinois this weekend.
“I expect two very tough matches against Purdue and Illinois,” Kasarov said. “But I think we have a chance in both matches.”
Against Purdue, Wisconsin is facing a team that has struggled finding its first victory in conference play. The winner of this contest will also get a leg up on the other for seeding in the conference tournament.
“We certainly feel we can win that match with Purdue,” Klingelhoets said. “They have been struggling a little bit lately too. It’s going to be a tough match, but we definitely feel we can get that match. If we get that match it is going to help our seeding a lot for the Big Ten Tournament, so obviously it is a big match for us.”
The road gets much tougher after Purdue as Wisconsin faces Illinois, the owners of a 45-game conference winning streak.
“We just go in against [Illinois] with nothing to lose and play our butts off,” Klingelhoets said. “But if we get the win against Purdue, it helps a lot. Then we can go in there feeling like, ‘hey, just give it our best shot.'”
