A date with Goliath: IU to face Wisconsin before traveling to No. 1 Northwestern

In every athletic season, David must meet Goliath. \nThe No. 28 IU women’s tennis team will compete against the top-ranked team in the country this weekend when it faces off against No. 1 Northwestern.\nThe Hoosiers will take on unranked Wisconsin in Madison before facing the Wildcats in Evanston, Ill.\nThe Wildcats pack a ferocious punch with four ranked players including No. 3 Maria Mosolova and No. 5 Georgia Rose. Northwestern also boasts two ranked doubles pairs, No. 13 Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray as well as the No. 14 combination of Lui and Rose. Murray is also ranked No. 25 individually, while Lui is ranked No. 42.\nFreshman Charlotte Martin said the team has been preparing for tough teams all season, and a major component to competing well is a positive attitude.\n“At this stage (of the season), most of (the preparation) is mental,” Martin said. “We can’t improve our fitness overnight, and when you’re playing a team like them, it’s important that you believe you can win and approach it like any other match.” \nComing off their fourth Big Ten win last weekend, the Hoosiers are hoping more Big Ten wins will lead to a berth in the NCAA Championships. However, Martin said the team is still concentrating on playing one match at a time.\n“Obviously the NCAAs are really important to us,” Martin said. “But we need to stay focused on the job we have to do at the time, and this week it’s to beat Wisconsin and Northwestern. Sometimes if you focus too far ahead, you slip up on the way. It’s important we stay in the present.”\nJunior Alba Berdala said this weekend’s opponent will be a “fun” challenge for the team.\n“The thing with playing the No. 1 team, we have no pressure (on us),” Berdala said.” We know we’re not expected to win. We’re just going to go there and have fun. Sometimes when you have fun you forget you’re playing against high-ranked opponents. Sometimes that can help and you can upset teams like that because you go there and you have no pressure and play for the fun of it.”\nBerdala said team chemistry will be a major factor for the Hoosiers, who have grown closer since the beginning \nthe year.\n“It is very important because we’re (playing) away,” Berdala said. “The better the connection between all of us, we’re a better team. If we win it’s because we’re a team, and we’re really strong as a team.”\nWhile the Hoosiers are looking forward to testing their skills against the Wildcats, IU coach Lin Loring said the Hoosiers are more focused on competing against the Badgers.\n“That’s the No. 1 thing we have to do this weekend, is to beat Wisconsin,” Loring said. “We’re really excited to play the No. 1 team in the country, especially when they’re in our conference. But that isn’t the priority match. We know that they’re heavy favorites.”\nLoring also said injuries could sideline a few players for the Northwestern match. Freshman Katya Zapadalova did not compete against No. 20 Notre Dame last weekend.\nIU will take on Wisconsin at 12 p.m. Saturday and Northwestern at 1 p.m. on Sunday.