For the men, it’s their last chance to impress the home crowd. For the women, it’s a chance to get their first conference win. This weekend the men’s and women’s tennis teams both compete against bordering-state rivals Iowa and Minnesota.
The Wisconsin men’s team (13-8, 5-2 in conference) is currently ranked No. 32 in the country after an important win against No. 39 Indiana and a tough loss versus No. 2 Ohio State this past weekend. On Saturday, the Badgers will face the No. 52 Hawkeyes (10-7, 2-4 in conference) at 11 a.m. and will battle the Gophers (4-14, 2-4 in conference) on Sunday at noon at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Head Coach Greg Van Emburgh and Assistant Coach Evan Austin are confident in Wisconsin’s ability to win this weekend but realize both teams will be looking for an in-conference upset against the Badgers, who currently sit at fourth in the Big Ten standings.
“I think it is really important for us to make sure that we don’t take these upcoming matches for granted,” Van Emburgh said. “Iowa is ranked and has had some good wins, and Minnesota is a team looking for a win and gunning for us. We just have to be really prepared and focused and approach each match like every other match we’ve played.”
In recent history under Van Emburgh, Wisconsin has an impressive record against Iowa and Minnesota. In his only two years as head coach, the Badgers are 1-1 against the Gophers and 2-0 against the Hawkeyes, with wins coming against both last season.
Both coaches stressed how important the doubles point will be during the matches. Since the Badgers have a strong singles lineup starring Moritz Baumann (No. 44 in the country) and Nolan Polley (No. 100 in the country), this weekend might depend on a strong showing from the doubles teams after struggling last weekend.
“We have to be ready to play everyone,” Austin said. “We have had some good upsets in doubles, and then we’ve laid some eggs in doubles, so we know we have to be ready to go on Saturday and Sunday.”
The women (7-12, 0-7 in conference) will be traveling to Minneapolis and Iowa City looking for their first conference wins after being swept this past weekend by No. 28 Indiana and only getting two out of seven points against No. 31 Ohio State. Junior Elizabeth Carpenter collected both a singles and doubles point for the Badgers against Ohio State this past Sunday; she is eager for her team to get a win and get the ball rolling.
“We are taking all of our past matches and experiences and building upon them,” Carpenter said. “We are just taking the positives, knowing that it takes one match at a time in order to be successful as a team.”
Carpenter will face two of the toughest Big Ten singles players at the number one spot — Alessandra Ferrazzi and Milica Veselinovic. Ferrazzi, Minnesota’s top singles player, is 9-8 overall while the Hawkeyes look to their ringer, Veselinovic, to get a point as she is 14-1 this season. While Carpenter realizes the importance of both of these matches, she, along with head coach Brian Fleishman, expects both matches this weekend to come down to doubles.
“For this weekend we need to start making better decisions out there,” Fleishman said. “We need to win the doubles point, go into the match with a lot of confidence, and we have to make good decisions on the court.”
In his first year as head coach, Fleishman has a lot of confidence in his team despite their poor conference record. In a conference in which Wisconsin is one of the only unranked teams, the head coach still remains optimistic about playing at No. 57 Minnesota (11-8, 1-5 in conference) and No. 46 Iowa (11-5, 2-4 in conference).
“Both teams are very comparable to us,” Fleishman said. “As a team we need to all play well on the same day and not sit there and expect our teammates to do the job. Everyone needs to go out and do their job individually.”
