Losing teams love to play the spoiler. Teams that have struggled all season thrive on taking a late season slap at the contender. Penn State will look to play the role of spoiler when it takes on the Michigan women's tennis team tomorrow at the Tisch Tennis Center.
With a win against Penn State, Michigan will finish its first undefeated regular season in the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions have not played well this season. They are currently 1-7 in the conference with only two matches remaining. So, the only thing left for them to do before the Big Ten championships on April 24th is to spoil the glory season the Wolverines have put together and give them their first conference loss of the season.
The bad news for Penn State is that the prospect of pulling off the upset is very unlikely. The Wolverines hold an 8-2 mark over the Lions in their brief history. Michigan has taken the past five regular-season matches.
And, most important, the Wolverines are on a serious roll.
Michigan has now won five straight matches, including victories against No. 7 William & Mary and No. 32 Indiana. The Wolverines are now 14-4 on the season and have dominated the Big Ten. So the Lions will need some spectacular performances to have a chance to defeat the Wolverines.
Michigan as a team is not the only thing undefeated in the Big Ten. Senior Sarah Cyganiak and freshman Brooke Hart are both 9-0 in the conference. Both of them also have a remarkable 15-3 record in dual-matches. Cyganiak will be trying to win her 25th match of the season.
Two other freshmen, Danielle Lund and Erryn Weggenman, aren't too far behind the team leaders with only one loss each in the conference. Lund has a 8-1 record, while Weggenman comes in at 6-1 in the Big Ten.
To add to that domination, no Wolverine enters the weekend with a losing record in the conference, a testament to Michigan's new-found depth, which it has lacked in previous years.
The domination does not end with the singles. Two of the doubles pairings enter the weekend with an 8-1 conference record. Cyganiak has teamed up with junior Sora Moon in doubles and won eight of their nine matches. They have already won 25 matches this season.
That record is equaled by a pair of freshmen, Weggenman and redshirt Jen Boylan, who have compiled a 16-8 overall mark. The third doubles team, which is also made up of a pair of freshmen, hasn't had trouble picking up the slack either as they come into the match with a 7-2 Big Ten mark.
And just to add a few more impressive numbers into the Michigan pot: The Wolverines have never lost at home. Since the opening of the Tisch Tennis Center on Feb. 15th against Western Michigan, the Wolverines have won all six of their matches there, including five against conference opponents.
What does all this mean for the Lions? Considering Michigan's level of play, combined with the less-than-perfect tennis that Penn State has displayed, the Lions need something just short of a miracle.
As much as the Lions are looking to fill the role of the underdog in the scenario, Michigan hopes to continue playing its role of the star.