After a week of rest, the Gophers men’s tennis team will dive back into action this weekend with a pair of Big Ten matches.
Minnesota takes on Michigan on Saturday evening and follows it up with a match against Michigan State on Sunday morning. The Gophers (14-4, 2-0 Big Ten) will look to run their Big Ten record to a sparkling 4-0.
In their match with Michigan State on Sunday, the Gophers will play a team they beat two weeks ago at the Corpus Christi Invitational. However they will not be taking anything for granted.
“We know MSU’s a good team and they have a fiery coach who always has them ready to play well.” coach Dave Geatz said.
Things figure to be tougher this time around for Minnesota. Michigan State was short-handed two weeks ago and may present new problems fully-armed.
“When we beat them they were missing one of their two best players, so we know we’ll have to play tough tennis to win the match,” sophomore Thomas Haug said.
Michigan appears to be a little bit of a tougher challenge for the 30th-ranked Gophers. The Wolverines are ranked ahead of Minnesota and should prove to be a formidable opponent. But Geatz feels that with solid play, his team should be able to pull off the win.
“Tyson Perry is the main key for a weekend sweep,” Geatz said. “He has tremendous potential and is possibly one of the best players in the Big Ten, if he plays well, we expect to win both games.”
The Gophers are looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance at the Corpus Christi Invitational two weeks ago, which saw them walk away 2-2, including a loss to unranked Oklahoma. The weekend wasn’t a total loss for Minnesota.
“After dropping the first two matches we could’ve given up, but we kept fighting and were able to win our next two games against MSU and UNLV and that showed a lot of character,” Geatz said.
Team captain Martin Michalowski said the weekend woke the team up to the difficulties of playing top competition.
“It was a good step back, a reality check especially for the younger guys who haven’t been through the tougher times,” Michalowski said, “After the weekend we had a team meeting that let a lot of people vent their frustrations and clear the air.”
Besides having a week to rest the Gophers are returning home for the first time since Jan. 22. That means Minnesota will be playing indoors again. And that usually means good things. The Gophers are undefeated indoors this year.