Beginning Thursday, the Wisconsin men's tennis team will battle the top area squads at the six-day Midwest Regional tournament in Minneapolis for a limited number of NCAA nationals' qualifying spots.
UW will face most of the Big Ten including Ohio State and Illinois - two of last year's top-five teams - as well as top non-conference teams including Notre Dame and Louisville.
The winners of the singles and doubles tournaments will automatically qualify for the Nov. 1 to Nov. 4 NCAA national indoor championships, and the rest of the 32 seeds will be determined at large.
The guys are really excited about the event,"" head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. ""I think we have a great chance of having someone qualify [for nationals].""
Three Badgers are ranked in the top-125 of the NCAA. Sophomore Nolan Polley is ranked 49th, senior Jeremy Sonkin is 87th and sophomore Moritz Baumann is 101st in the polls. The three ranked players as well as sophomore Luke Rassow-Kantor earned automatic spots in the regional 64-player singles draw.
Senior Felipe Bellido also qualified for the main draw singles tournament, but will not compete due to a shoulder injury. Bellido advanced to the top-16 in the doubles tournament with then-senior Lachezar Kasarov at Midwest Regionals last year.
In addition, UW sophomore Michael Dierberger, freshman Peter Marrack and junior Gian Hodgson will compete in Friday's qualifying rounds, after which the top performers will move on to the main draw. UW is also putting together four doubles teams consisting of the singles competitors.
Hodgson is coming off a strong weekend at the Northwestern Wildcat Invitational. He advanced all the way to finals but fell short of grabbing the individual title after losing to Western Michigan's R.K. Bacalla by default.
""The great thing about our team this year is that we're really deep,"" Van Emburgh said. ""We have some really great players throughout the lineup, and I think on any given day, our guys could compete with any top guy on any team.""
After being the only Badger to qualify last year, Polley has plenty of company in the main draw this time around. Last year, Polley made it to the top-16, but was kept out quarterfinals after falling to Devin Mullings of Ohio State.
""We're miles ahead of where we were last fall,"" Van Emburgh said.
Even if no one qualifies for the prestigious NCAA championships, the climax of the indoor tennis season, the Big Ten Championships, falls Nov. 9 to Nov. 11.
