If the last two weekends are any indication, no one will know which Michigan tennis team (2-2 Big Ten, 4-9 overall) will come to play tomorrow at Iowa and Sunday at Minnesota.
Will it be the Michigan team that swept Ohio State and narrowly beat conference leader Indiana? Or will the Wolverines revert back to the team that lost eight straight matches? Michigan had lost five of the eight matches, 4-3.
According to Michigan coach Brian Eisner, fans should look for the team of the past weekend.
"I think the two matches gave everyone a lot of confidence," Eisner said. "We played very, very well."
For a change, Eisner will not have to change the lineup going into the weekend.
Junior David Paradzik will stay at the No. 1 singles spot for the weekend.
He is the only Wolverine to play in the same slot for every match.
He will be followed by freshman Matt Wright, playing No. 2 singles for just the fourth time all year.
Wright has a 1-2 record in his previous three matches at the No. 2 spot.
Junior Arvid Swan, who has played most of the matches at No. 2 this season, moves down to the No. 3 spot, where he is 2-1. Swan has won his last two matches.
Will Farah will play No. 4 this weekend.
Farah is tied with Paradzik for the team lead in wins this season with 19 and looks to improve on his 4-1 Big Ten singles record.
The top four will be joined by sophomore Jake Raiton and freshman Brad McFarlane.
Raiton has struggled at the No. 5 spot posting a 3-6 record. He has missed two of the conference matches due to injury.
McFarlane, on the other hand, is coming off his most successful weekend.
McFarlane earned his first two dual match victories of his Michigan career, including the match clincher against Indiana's Andrew Held, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
The doubles pairings will also be the same, as Eisner struggles to find combinations that can string some victories together.
Only one pair playing this weekend, Swan and McFarlane, has a .500 record. The doubles point could be the difference if the matches are close.
Michigan faces injury-depleted Iowa (1-3, 7-7) that has only one conference win this season, yet Eisner refuses to take the Hawkeyes lightly.
"They (Iowa) have had a lot of problems this year," Eisner said. "But when teams play well in this conference, anyone can beat anyone."
Minnesota (1-3, 5-8) has been Michigan's main rival at the top of the conference recently, but this season the Gophers have struggled a bit.
"Minnesota has been our chief competition the past eight to 10 years," Eisner said. "We have been the two dominant teams in the conference."
That should change starting this weekend with the return of Lars Hjarrand.
Hjarrand has played some events on the pro tour this year and has consequently not played with the Gophers all year.
But Hjarrand has re-enrolled at Minnesota and has rejoined the team.
"They really get a boost with the return of Hjarrand," Eisner said. Hjarrand's return provides Minnesota with another advantage. The rest of the singles players will have a chance to move down a spot. That should enable the Gophers to be more formidable than they have all season.
"We can't worry about what is going on with other teams," Eisner said.
"We know that if we can play the type of tennis that we are capable of, we can make a run at the conference title."
The run at a repeat conference title begins in Iowa City tomorrow.