Performance under pressure is what makes the difference in the world of sports. The Michigan women's tennis team took on a high form of pressure - playing in front of one's parents - and dealt with it almost perfectly over Parents' Weekend.
The Wolverines manhandled Michigan State and Purdue, beating them, 9-0 and 8-1.
"We dominated," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said.
The bashing started against the Spartans on Friday at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Michigan started off by sweeping the doubles matches, then proceeded to win every singles match-up.
After the Spartans moved on, the Boilermakers stepped in Saturday and suffered the same fate. With only one loss, the Wolverines continued to roll as they pushed their undefeated mark in the Big Ten to 5-0.
"In our previous two dual matches we got off to a bad start in either doubles or singles," Ritt said. "But (against Purdue), we brought both of them together."
Even with the slow starts, Michigan didn't take too long to pick up the speed in the weekend's matches.
The lone senior on the team, Sarah Cyganiak, set the pace by winning all her matches while playing in the No. 1 spot. Her record now is 9-2, but more important, she has yet to lose a conference match (5-0).
"We've basically been doing it with our attitude and our desire to play," Cyganiak said.
Junior Sora Moon, whose match with Purdue's Jennifer Embry continued for more than an hour after all the other matches were done, showed plenty of heart in the three-set match.
"We're not worried about Sora," Ritt said. "She's a great competitor and is always there."
Sophomore Tumeka Harris, who had struggled so far this season, was impressive in her two wins. After a rocky start, Harris' record in the conference is still 4-1.
"The past three matches have done a lot for Tumeka's confidence," Ritt said.
The freshmen continued to step up as they have all season, going undefeated for the entire weekend.
"The freshmen are really putting a dent into every match," Cyganiak said.
At the forefront of the freshman field is Brooke Hart, who has kept up with Cyganiak, maintaining an identical record (5-0 Big Ten, 9-2 overall).
Two other freshmen, Erryn Weggenman and Danielle Lund, swept past their opponents to identically raise their records to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
The doubles play, which featured only freshmen on two of the three teams, was even more impressive than the singles. Jen Boylan and Weggenman improved to 8-3 overall in doubles play, while their 4-1 conference record equals the marks of the Cyganiak-Moon and Lund-Hart combinations.
"They bring a lot of enthusiasm and experience," Ritt said. "Even though they're freshmen, they have a lot of experience in big matches."
With half the conference schedule out of the way, the Wolverines have plenty to smile about. And with their next two matches being played at Miami and South Florida, those smiles shouldn't be leaving their faces for quite some time.