This weekend the women's tennis team travels to North Carolina for a pair of matches, starting off with the No. 9 North Carolina on Saturday and facing Conference USA foe Charlotte on Sunday.
Saturday's match with the Tar Heels will be the second of many meetings Marquette will have with nationally ranked teams. The Tar Heels enter the match with a 2-0 record, after sweeping both the College of Charleston and Elon University, 7-0.
The Golden Eagles head into the weekend with a 2-1 record, after winning their opening two matches at home and losing on their first road test.
Head coach Jody Bronson said the team will focus on the things it did not do well over the weekend against No. 23 Illinois. With North Carolina being solid in every spot, the Golden Eagles will have to be there both physically and mentally, Bronson said.
Although North Carolina is a ranked team, Bronson feels the team can still compete at that level. Going into the meet Bronson said the Golden Eagles need to try and prepare to stay in the match and have control over it.
"When you come up against people like that hopefully you're not pressured," Bronson said. "You have the freedom to go out and play the game and feel pretty loose about it. We have a lot of nationally ranked teams on our schedule and we need to show up physically and mentally."
North Carolina has three players who are all nationally ranked — No. 34 Aniela Mojzis, playing at first singles, No. 65 Sarah Anundsen and No. 98 Caitlin Collins who have been switching off between third and fourth singles.
The Golden Eagle's main goal in the match will be to have control over their opponent.
"We need to try and dictate the points whether we win or lose them," Bronson said.
Following Saturday's match, the Golden Eagles will remain in Chapel Hill, N.C. to take on the Charlotte 49ers in their first conference match-up.
The match-up against Charlotte is an important one, and will help in determining how they will do in conference play this season, Bronson said.
Last season Marquette defeated Charlotte 4-1 in the C-USA tournament, however, Bronson said it was not a particularly good match.
"We beat them, but I wouldn't say some of our players were at their best," Bronson said. "I'm hoping we can match them."
Last season the 49ers tied for ninth in the C-USA tournament after losing to Marquette, who went on to place fifth in the tournament. Charlotte ended the season with an overall record of 9-14 and a conference record of 1-1.
Charlotte has not yet started its season. However, in the tournament season the team had a combined record of 61-32 in singles and 23-14 in doubles.
This weekend the Golden Eagles will focus on the little details.
"My expectations are for my players to go out on the court and play like we've been training them," Bronson said. "They have to do the little things — it's all about the little things, you can't only look at the big things to win."