If the demeanor of the women’s tennis team is any implication of how it will fare in the Big Ten Tournament, then the situation is looking good. While head coach Brian Fleishman mentioned it briefly, it is the unspoken confidence in the eyes of both players and coaches alike that is carrying the team into the tournament with hopes of success.

The Badgers are scheduled to play Iowa on Thursday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, a team they defeated 4-3 earlier in the season.

After winning three of their past four matches, the lone loss being a hard fought battle with Ohio State, the team appears to be back on track after losing its first seven Big Ten matches.

“The girls now are more confident,” Fleishman said. “It’s a great time to be confident at the end of the season, and carrying that confidence into the match against Iowa is going to be big for us.”

One of the main catalysts behind the Badgers’ recent success and newfound confidence is senior Liz Carpenter. Carpenter has won her past three singles matches, and is 6-4 in Big Ten play.

“We finished the season on a high note and have been playing really well, and we are going to try and continue that into the conference tournament,” Carpenter said. “Everyone is going to be really focused and come fired up for their match.”

As one of three seniors on the team, Carpenter is going to be playing with some extra urgency this tournament.

“In the conference tournament, any match can be your last,” she said. “I am going to be making sure when I am on the court I am really pumped up and not worrying about the other person, just focusing on playing my game.”

Along with leading the team by example, Carpenter is not forgetting her role as a verbal encourager of the younger players.

“I’m really big on cheering — I’m always screaming at the other players trying to pump them up,” she claimed. “So really I’m just going to continue with what I have always been doing, which is cheering really loud.”

Nevertheless, while Carpenter provides motivation for the underclassmen, one of the younger players on the team, freshman Angela Chupa, is far from lacking confidence.

“We are just going to go out there and compete,” Chupa said. “We already beat Iowa a few weeks ago, and we are going to go out there and prove we deserve to beat them a second time. I am more excited than nervous for this weekend. This is our last chance to prove ourselves this season, and we want to go out with a bang. This is the time to do it.”

Fleishman is confident his players can prove themselves if they remain concentrated on their tasks and avoid too many unforced errors.

“We are going to focus on not giving free points away, trying to make the other team play more balls, and not thinking we need to hit winners,” Fleishman said. “I am pretty confident the girls are going to step up and do exactly what I said, keeping things in play and keeping things in perspective.”

Hosting the tournament is also giving the players confidence. Chupa believes the home court advantage will give the team a clear upper hand against its Big Ten opponents.

“It is absolutely an advantage playing on our home courts,” Chupa said. “We are trying to get a lot of fans to come out, and we played well this past weekend on our home courts.”

“It’s going to be really fun playing on our home courts for the tournament,” Carpenter said. “We practice every day out there, and are familiar with the wind and temperature and I definitely think it will be to our advantage.”

“Our girls are pretty focused right now,” Fleishman added. “They know they are in a position to do good things, and I think they’ll go out there and do it.