Northwestern is seeking a pair of upsets this weekend when it travels to face No. 2 Ohio State on Friday and Indiana on Sunday.
Times have been rough for the Wildcats of late. Since a 6-4 start, they have dropped seven of their last eight, with their only win coming March 25 against Lamar University. With a record of 7-11, NU is still winless against Big Ten competition and is currently in 10th place in the conference.
Ohio State is ranked second in the nation with a 21-1 season record. The Buckeyes have won their last 10 matches, and their only loss all season came against No. 1 Virginia on Feb. 18.
"Ohio State is (ranked) No. 2, so it's always really exciting playing teams like that," junior Mark Dwyer said. "Pretty much everyone on the team is ranked, so everyone on our team gets a chance to get a big victory, both for themselves and for the team. That's really exciting for us."
The Cats have been swept by the Buckeyes in every match they've played since 2005, when NU downed Ohio State for the first time this decade, 5-2.
"They're very well coached, and they've done a really good job for the past few years," coach Arvid Swan said. "I expect that we will compete really hard against them and we don't back down from a highly ranked team. I want for us to compete in all of our sets one-through-six (in) singles and one-through-three (in) doubles and give ourselves some chances to win some sets or even the match."
No. 39 Indiana is a "much improved team" this year, Swan said. The Hoosiers have a 12-5 record, with all of their losses coming against higher-seeded, nationally-ranked teams. In its last match, Indiana lost to Ohio State.
"Indiana is a tough team to play, but I think we have a chance win that one, too," Dwyer said.
Last weekend, NU fell to Illinois and Purdue to drop to 0-5 in the conference with five Big Ten games remaining in the regular season.
"The goal of the program is to be one of the best programs in the Big Ten over the next few years and eventually one of the best programs in the country," Swan said. "We're starting from a certain point, and we're going to be very competitive with everybody in the Big Ten as we move forward over the next couple of years."
e-marston@northwestern.edu
2008 Woodie Awards
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