The Wisconsin men’s tennis team hopes to continue its hot streak when it hits the road this weekend.UW will play at Indiana Saturday and then make the trek over to Columbus to face Ohio State Sunday.
The first match of the road trip will pit the No. 35 Badgers, winners of eight of their last 10 matches, against the No. 39 Hoosiers. Indiana, currently 12-5 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten play, is led by senior Thomas Richter. Richter holds a 3-3 record versus top 100 opponents this season.
The Hoosiers also boast a strong No. 3 doubles tandem of Peter Antons and Santiago Gruter. Antons and Gruter have won 11 of their past 13 matches.
“I think Indiana is looking at it as an opportunity to pick up a good win against a good team like us,” head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. “We just really have to be ready to go for every team that we face from here on out.”
One thing that will be different for UW this weekend is the opportunity to finally play a conference match outdoors. Wisconsin has not played an outdoor match since the Blue-Gray Classic in Alabama two weeks ago.
“I think [the matches] are going to be outside,” Van Emburgh said. “It’s supposed to be nice this weekend, so we should be able to play both matches outside. It’ll be our first conference match outside.”
After beating Illinois for the first time in 14 years last weekend, the Badgers hope to break some more streaks this Sunday. Ohio State has a 65-match winning streak at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center and has won 30 consecutive Big Ten matches. The No. 2Buckeyes are also the two-time reigning conference tournament champions and have defeated four top 10 teams this season.
Ohio State, 21-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, boasts three singles players and all three doubles teams in the top 40. Sophomore Justin Kronauge is No. 17 in the nation, and juniors Bryan Koniecko and Steven Moneke are ranked Nos. 18 and 33 respectively. The Badgers will counter with three ranked players of their own in 44th-ranked Moritz Baumann, No. 100 Nolan Polley and 113th-ranked Marek Michalicka. Van Emburgh is confident UW will be able to draw upon their momentum gained from the upset victory over 16th-ranked Illinois.
“Hopefully our guys really understand how good they are and that they should be confident heading into these matches,” Van Emburgh said. “But they still need to remember that you have to go out and execute and prove it.”
Ohio State head coach Ty Tucker has led the Buckeyes to seven 20-win seasons in his eight years as head coach, including an 11-0 record versus Wisconsin.
“From here on out, every match is going to be tough,” Van Emburgh said. “The matches that are left are conference matches, so they’re all going to be tough. We’re playing [Indiana and Ohio State] away, so it will be a challenge.”
With a 4-1 start in Big Ten action, the Badgers have put themselves in good position to finish very near the top of the conference. Still, Van Emburgh knows his team will have to fight hard to finish the way it wants to.
“I think Ohio State and Indiana are great teams,” Van Emburgh said. “Our conference is getting stronger and stronger. You really have to be prepared to play every match.”
