The Tennessee women’s tennis team will be the underdog this weekend at Michigan.
Tennessee travels to Ann Arbor to take on the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. The match is set for 11 a.m. The girls will also have matches against Detroit and Western Michigan on Sunday.
The Vols are coming off a great weekend last week that saw them go 4-0. They beat Western Kentucky and Murray State 5-2 and knocked off MTSU 4-3. They downed Mercer 6-1 to close out the weekend. However, the challenge on Saturday will be much greater.
Michigan comes into the match ranked at No. 15 in the country and 2-0 on the year. Michigan beat Yale 4-0 and Tulsa 4-2 to secure those two wins. Michigan is a solid team from top to bottom.
“They have six really good players,” co-head coach Mike Patrick said. “Kids who were highly recruited, highly sought after, kids who work hard.”
Tennessee has had some injuries this season but has continued to play well. Playing Michigan, though, might highlight those injuries and put the Vols in a tough spot. The team will need to play well if it wants to upset the Wolverines.
“We can hide them (injuries) up to a certain point, but when you start playing those top 15 top 20 teams there is really no way to shirk’em,” coach Patrick said. “We’re going to have to play extremely well, we want to be very competitive and give ourselves a chance to win, and that means everyone has to be at their best. We’re hoping to do that, I think we are playing well in practice, it’s a matter of we compete against a really formidable foe.”
Even with the tough matchup, the Vols are looking forward to playing Michigan. Sophomore Ashlee Boles opined that the team’s mental toughness will help them on Saturday.
“We are the underdogs going into Michigan,” Boles said. “That helps us, too, because we just wanna go out there and beat them.”
There will be a sense of familiarity when these two teams meet on the court. Coach Patrick used to work with Michigan’s coach Ronnie Bernstein when she was a player on the pro tour. Also, UT’s co-head coach Sonia Hahn-Patrick played doubles with Michigan’s coach.
The Lady Vols will face Western Michigan (1-2) and Detroit (2-2) on Sunday. The matches Sunday are set for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
