Men's Tennis: Badgers go on the Road to Ohio State and Penn State

While the weather outside is delightful, the Wisconsin men’s tennis team’s (1-4 Big Ten 10-7 overall) recent performances have been frightful—like Ryan Evans’ free throws frightful. On the tail end of dropping five straight matches—none of which have really been close—and subsequently dropping out of the rankings, the Badgers travel to Columbus Friday to try to pull off a shocker against No. 5 Ohio State (5-0, 20-2). Even though the Badgers have been able to pull off several upsets against Ohio State in other sports, this one appears to be a longshot. The Buckeyes have five nationally ranked singles players, led by No. 4 Peter Kobelt, which does not bode well for the struggling Badgers’ singles squad, as they have combined to earn only one win in a singles match in their last thirty. Even the Badgers’ solid doubles lineup will have a tough time earning the point as Ohio State boasts three nationally ranked doubles pairs. However, in the past, travelling to Columbus has not scared the Badgers too much, as they 14-15 overall at Ohio State, a very respectable record considering Ohio State has not lost a home meet in 10 years. Yes, you read that right, Ohio State has not lost a home meet since April 5, 2003, going for their 164^th straight win at home Friday. While defeating Ohio State will require nothing short of a perfect performance, the Badgers have a meet on Sunday that might not necessitate that kind of effort. The Big Ten boasts many strong teams this year, with nine of the twelve teams ranked. However, the Badgers get to face one of those unranked teams Sunday against Penn State (1-4, 7-11) in University Park. The Badgers will not overlook this match, as they will need to make sure they defeat the weaker teams in the conference, especially at University Park, where the Badgers have had success, owning an overall 6-4 record there against the Nittany Lions. Penn St. will also be looking to strengthen their conference record, after just recording their first conference win last week over Iowa. Fully entrenched in conference play, the Badgers will look to make a huge statement to the rest of the Big Ten this weekend as they attempt to even their conference record back to .500.