MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's tennis team is set to start Big Ten Conference play this weekend with a pair of matches in Michigan. Wisconsin will play Michigan State on Friday and take on No. 5 Michigan on Sunday.
1. Shaking up the Lineup: Last week's matches welcomed back junior
Gabriel Huber and sophomore
Mihailo Popovic from injuries, shaking up the previous lineup that had stayed strong for more than a month. Huber played at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions during the Badgers' spring break trip to California, while Popovic played at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions and partnered with senior
Lenard Soha at No. 3 doubles.
2. Know the Opponents: Michigan State is 13-5 on the season going into conference play. That includes a 4-3 win over Marquette, which the Badgers defeated 6-1, and a 6-1 loss to No. 72 Western Michigan, which Wisconsin clinched a 4-3 win over in early March.
The Wolverines are currently No. 5 in the latest ITA rankings, going 10-2 on the season so far. Their resume includes four top-20 ranked wins, including victories over No. 1 TCU and No. 3 Ohio State. Their only losses were at the hands of then-No. 19 Harvard and No. 10 Wake Forest, both on the losing end of 4-3 matches. Michigan has four ranked singles players on their roster in No. 27 Ondrej Styler, No. 33 Andrew Fenty, No. 43 Andrew Bickersteth and No. 122 Patrick Maloney. They also boast two ranked doubles teams in the No. 6 pairing of Fenty and Nino Ehrenschneider and the No. 21-ranked duo of Styler and Gavin Young.
3. Looking ahead at the Big Ten: Going into Big Ten play, the Badgers will have multiple tough matchups against a stacked conference of ranked teams. The Ohio State Buckeyes are currently ranked No. 3 overall and will travel to Madison to face the Badgers on April 22. Wisconsin's foe this weekend is No. 5-ranked Michigan, which moved up a couple of spots after a sweep of ranked teams last weekend. Illinois stands at No. 52 overall and will travel to Madison and take on the Badgers on April 10. Wisconsin follows at No. 62 and then Nebraska, which rounds out the Big Ten at No. 74.
4. Follow the Action: Live updates on the Badgers can be found on Twitter (
@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (
@wisconsintennis), while live scoring/streaming will be linked from the
men's tennis schedule page on UWBadgers.com.
5. Up Next: The Badgers stay on the road and travel to Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers next Saturday, April 2.
