The IU men’s tennis team will travel north for the weekend.
After going 1-2 at the San Diego Invitational, the Hoosiers will continue to face ranked opponents in their schedule.
“It was great to get outside and play in a really challenging tournament with higher ranked teams,” IU Coach Jeremy Wurtzman said. “It was a good opportunity for us to play against great competition and play our first match outside.”
The Hoosiers finished strong by beating Middle Tennessee State 4-3. They will now face familiar Big Ten foes this weekend.
No. 39 IU will play at Wisconsin at 12 p.m. Friday and at No. 25 Minnesota at 12 p.m. Sunday. IU is 2-3 on the road this season.
“We beat Washington and Dartmouth at their court, which I thought were good wins,” Wurtzman said. “I think we are definitely going to have to get off to good starts in doubles and in singles.”
The Hoosiers are 0-2 in Big Ten play this season but have lost to strong teams at Illinois and narrowly at home to Northwestern.
“If we can play as we did against Northwestern against a lot of other Big Ten Teams, I think we will be in good shape and find ourselves on the winning side,” Wurtzman said.
IU (11-7) will look to buck its losing conference trend against Wisconsin.
Wisconsin (4-11) is coming off a 4-3 loss against No. 45 Iowa, but the Hoosiers are taking them seriously.
“They play great doubles and have talent throughout their lineup, and we’re ready for the battle,” Wurtzman said. “It’s going to be a difficult, tough match, but we won our last match 4-3 to end spring break, and we’re excited to get out there again and keep the momentum going.”
The Badgers have won five consecutive doubles points. However, the Hoosiers’ strength is also strong starts.
“We are going to have to play extremely well,” Wurtzman said. “That’s one of our strong points, so I think we are going to have to be ready to go and be able to match their doubles skills and put our best effort out there because they have a lot of confidence in their doubles play.”
IU will face a tougher task against the Gophers, who defeated No.74 Nebraska 5-2 in Lincoln on Sunday. Minnesota is on a roll, winning four of its last five matches. The Gophers are 3-0 in conference play and boast an 8-0 home record.
“Minnesota is probably one of the top teams in our conference,” Wurtzman said. “They are solid throughout the lineup and have some guys that are ranked pretty high nationally so we are going to have to step up and play some good tennis to put ourselves in good position.”
Minnesota (12-5) features two ranked players, No. 25 Leandro Toledo and No. 66 Mathieu Froment. Both players won their last matches.
“That team is tough,” Wurtzman said. “They’re if not the best in our conference. They are in the top three or four so we know it will be a very tough match, but I think if we can continue to gain confidence and play our best match we can have a chance.”
The Hoosiers are working hard at practice to improve before they go on the road.
“I like for us to do a better job starting matches in both doubles and singles,” Wurtzman said. “It all starts with going out there and showing our best competitive effort and our best energy to start matches.”
