After coming off of five straight losses to Big Ten opponents, the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers men's tennis team (2-8 Big Ten, 8-12 overall) has high hopes going into the Big Ten Tournament this Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, where it will face the No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes (4-6, 12-9) in the first round.
Head Coach Pat Klingelhoets believes the Badgers are ready to turn things around and regards the upcoming tournament as a new beginning for the team.
\You have to treat it that way [like a new beginning],"" Klingelhoets said. ""There were all those 4-3 losses. Hopefully we learned something. Hopefully it toughened us up so we are able to put it together right now.""
Thursday's matchup will be a rematch of April 19, when Iowa edged the Badgers 4-3. Senior co-captain Jason Gonzaga believes that they should have had the win the first time around.
""I think we did everything we needed to beat Iowa last Friday,"" Gonzaga said. ""We just had some matches that didn't go our way. Right now though, everyone is playing really well. Hopefully we get the doubles point again and win three of the singles points to get us the victory.""
Against Iowa, Wisconsin was tied with the Hawkeyes at three points each, but a loss late in the match granted Iowa the win. The No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams for Wisconsin both won to give the Badgers the doubles point, and Westerman and freshman Alexander Kasarov won in singles to keep the score tied. However, Wisconsin's Scott Rutherford lost to Iowa's Jake Wilson in the No. 2 singles seed, giving the Badgers their fifth loss in a row.
""I think we are in good shape against Iowa,"" Klingelhoets said. ""It's obviously going to be a tough match but we feel that we can take those guys. Iowa has good depth. They are solid throughout their singles and doubles. However, if we go in and play hard we can definitely win that match.""
Senior co-captain Danny Westerman said that the team is ready for the rematch.
""We feel pretty confident facing Iowa,"" Westerman said. ""We feel we can play better than we did last Friday. I think we are playing our best tennis right now. Even with the past couple losses we have taken to the upper teams in the Big Ten, we competed pretty well so we feel pretty confident to win a couple of rounds.""
The rematch is a welcome thing for the Badgers, for most think that their No.10 seed draw for the tournament is a good thing.
""We match up well with Iowa,"" Gonzaga said. ""Our singles matchups look well against theirs and our doubles teams took the doubles point last time so we are in good shape to win Thursday.""
If the Badgers beat Iowa Thursday, they will face the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (9-1, 20-3) in the second round. In their previous meeting, the Buckeyes beat the Badgers 6-1, with Westerman winning the lone singles match for UW and the doubles team of Westerman and senior Justin Baker also winning.
While most of the team will end its season with the tournament, Westerman will proceed to the NCAA Tournament May 11-12.
""Though we've had a tough season, if we come out and play our game I think we should be fine,"" Westerman said. ""If we beat Iowa and if we can beat Ohio State in the next round, it should help try to salvage some of the season.""
Other first round matches at the Big Ten Tournament:
No. 8 Penn State faces No. 9 Michigan State and No. 6 Michigan takes on No. 11 Indiana.
Second round action has the winner of the Penn State/Michigan State match taking on five-time reigning champion Illinois, which is undefeated this season in Big Ten play. Also, No. 4 Northwestern faces No. 5 Purdue. No. 3 Minnesota will see the winner of the Michigan/Indiana contest, and host school No. 3 Ohio State will face the Iowa/Wisconsin winner.
