Coming off of a heart-wrenching defeat at the hands of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin men’s tennis team is looking to bounce back this weekend in two matches on the road.
The Badgers face Penn State Friday in University Park, Pa., and then head out to Columbus, Ohio, to take on dangerous Ohio State, ranked third in the nation, on Sunday.
“Both of those are going to be road matches that will be difficult,” head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. “Obviously, one (Ohio State) is going to be more difficult than the other.”
UW, ranked 29th in the nation, is set to wrap up its regular season with these final two matches. Badger players admit it has been very up-and-down.
“I think we did pretty well this season,” freshman Patrick Pohlmann said. “I will leave that our season was like a curve. We won against Notre Dame then lost against Indiana. … If we played more consistently, we could have achieved more.”
“We had a couple good wins, like Notre Dame and Wake Forest,” sophomore Marek Michalicka said. “But we also had some bad losses, so it was kind of 50-50 this season.”
Wisconsin is also coming off its final home matches. Despite pulling out a solid 5-2 win over Iowa, Wisconsin dropped a match to Minnesota amidst bad blood and some untimely injuries. The Badgers will have to push past that disappointment to succeed this weekend.
“I don’t think [the loss to Minnesota] will affect us,” assistant coach Evan Austin said. “We’re pretty resilient. We’ll get a few good days of practice and get re-focused and ready to go.”
“For me, it was such a bad loss,” Michalika said. “It was sad, not how I wanted to end [the last home matches]. But we just have to get set for these last two matches.”
Wisconsin will be facing two very different opponents this weekend.
Penn State is ranked 61st in the nation but still can be very dangerous, especially on the team’s home courts.
Sunday’s opponent, Ohio State, is a completely different story. The Buckeyes sit atop the Big Ten standings and are within striking distance of the national championship — and haven’t lost a home match since 2003.
“We really want to take care of Penn State first before we even take a look at the match on Sunday,” Van Emburgh said. “If we play like we’re capable of, we’ll win that match at Penn State and hopefully have some momentum and some confidence and take it into the last match on Sunday.”
Wisconsin’s record can be deceiving this year, Van Emburgh pointed out.
“If you look at our record, and take a look at the matches we’ve lost, it’s all been close — 4-3,” Van Emburgh said. “So, I mean, it’s just a couple of points from swinging our way, as well.”
“You live and die by those [matches].”
With their regular season ending, Wisconsin tennis players also have the Big Ten’s looming on the horizon. Officially, the Big Ten Tournament begins next Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Badgers will have a short turnaround from their matches this weekend to the tournament, so their performances this weekend could be crucial to the team’s attitude moving into next Thursday.
“I want to come to the semi-finals of the Big Ten’s,” Pohlmann said. “I think we can gain that goal. But we have to wait and play loose.”
However, the Badgers are making sure not to look too far into the future, especially with the two tough road matches coming up.
“We’re really just looking at every match now as an opportunity to get better,” Austin said. “We really want to finish strong this year. We want to maximize our potential as a team at the end of May when we finish.”
With a relatively young team, the Badgers hope to make a statement for next year.
“From here on out, I think that it’s really important that we’re just prepared right and that we’re really focused,” Van Emburgh said. “We’ve got a lot of guys with really great tennis potential, and we’re just waiting for them to have a breakout.”
