After a loss to No. 11 Notre Dame in the great outdoors of South Bend on Tuesday, the Michigan men's tennis team will seek the shelter of the Tisch Tennis Center this weekend. Michigan (5-3 Big Ten, 7-11 overall) will host No. 22 Northwestern tomorrow and Wisconsin on Sunday.
"Everybody's pretty confident about our chances this weekend," sophomore Will Farah said. "The switch to outdoors may have affected us, but now we get to play at home."
Northwestern (8-0, 13-5) is the only undefeated team in Big Ten play.
The Wildcats are also the only ranked team in the Big Ten.
Northwestern's "whole team is real strong," Farah said. "But I think that we match up well against them."
Northwestern returns three of its singles players, who gave Michigan a tough match last year but lost, 4-3, in the semifinals of the Big Ten championships.
Like Michigan, Northwestern has struggled with doubles this season and has had to rely on strong singles play to win dual matches.
Farah, who was pressed into duty at the No. 3 spot against the Irish, shares the top win total of any Michigan singles player. The sophomore holds a 21-15 record, which includes a team-best 7-2 record in conference play.
Wisconsin (2-6, 9-10) will come to town on Sunday looking to climb out of ninth place. The Badgers are led by No. 5 singles player Adam Schumacher.
Schumacher, only a freshman, has a 13-5 record on the season. He and No. 4 Jeff Malik are the only Badgers above .500 this season
"The depth in the Big Ten is great this year, so we really cannot take any teams lightly," freshman Brad McFarlane said. "Our advantage this weekend is our home court."
Indeed, Michigan has won its only two matches at the Tisch Tennis Center this season and looks to move out of a fourth-place tie with Illinois this weekend.
But what may be of greater concern to the Wolverines this weekend is the uncertainty of its lineup.
No. 1 singles player David Paradzik and No. 5 Jake Raiton were held out of the Notre Dame match due to what several of their teammates said yesterday was a "team matter."
If the two do not play this weekend, Michigan will probably send the same team out that fell to Notre Dame on Tuesday.
That would mean that freshman Matt Wright would climb back to the No. 1 spot, taking Paradzik's place. Wright played well against Notre Dame's Ryan Sachire but lost, 7-5, 6-4. Sachire is ranked 42nd in the country.
Junior co-captain Arvid Swan would move from No. 3 to No. 2, where he started the season. Farah would take his team-best record to No. 3.
McFarlane, who has done an admirable job in the No. 6 position, would move up to No. 4.
And either junior Miki PusztaI or freshman John Long would play their first matches in front of their hometown crowd in the No.6 slot.
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
William Farah and the men's tennis team return to Ann Arbor for two weekend matches.