Tennis faces lowly Lions on Saturday

Last road match not expected to be tough

Now this is what the Michigan women's tennis team needs. A guaranteed 'W.' A match where the Wolverines can relax and cruise to victory.

Or can they? With the parity that exists in the Big Ten this year, it seems that the old cliché is ringing true: Any team can beat any other on any given day.

Well, maybe not any team. Penn State has not managed to beat any Big Ten opponents this season, and is up against the defending conference champ this Saturday.

Michigan (6-2 Big Ten, 9-9 overall) travels to State College to face the Nittany Lions in what should be a sure win for the Wolverines on Saturday.

The Wolverines' trip to Penn State will mark the final stop in a five-match road trip that began the first weekend of April. They have managed only three road wins in 10 tries this season, and only one of their past four road matches has resulted in a victory.

Michigan is coming off an up-and-down weekend, finding a way to pull off a comeback win over Minnesota but losing to Iowa. Both matches went down to the final singles contest.

The Wolverines fell behind 3-1 against Minnesota, but ran off three straight singles wins to capture the victory. The victory was significant for the Wolverines, because Minnesota hadn't lost a Big Ten match this season prior to its showdown with the Wolverines.

The Wolverines nearly completed their second comeback of the weekend against Iowa, but could not get the requisite four singles wins needed to come back from the early 1-0 deficit after doubles play.

Michigan is still alive in the hunt for the top seed at the Big Ten Tournament, but needs to make up some ground if they want to capture that spot. Three teams - Wisconsin, Purdue, and Minnesota - have just one conference loss on the season.

Atop Michigan's list of priorities is to improve its play in doubles. Last weekend, the Wolverines won only one doubles match in the contests against Northwestern and Minnesota, and lost two in 9-7 tiebreakers.

"We clearly have to play better doubles," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "We're digging holes for ourselves, and in the end, it's just too much."

A certain amount of inconsistency has plagued the Wolverines this season.

Michigan has bested some of the top teams in the conference, but both Big Ten losses have come against lower-ranked opponents. These are also the only two losses the Wolverines have to lower ranked opponents.

Michigan is looking to get back above .500 overall for the first time since March 29, just after a weekend that included important dual-match victories over Ohio State and Indiana.

The Wolverines cannot afford another loss if they hope to clinch the top spot at the Big Ten Tournament. According to Ritt, however, "Regardless of seed, you still have to play three days of good tennis to win our conference championship."

But, wh1at is more important is that they are seeded in the top five. The bottom six teams have to play an extra match on Thursday before the top seeds play on Friday.

04-16-98