The Marquette men’s tennis team is used to playing multiple matches in a short span of time. At the end of January, the Golden Eagles played three opponents in the span of two days, and won 20 of 21 sets in that time.
So Marquette should feel little pressure having to go up against Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday and then Bradley the following day. These will be Marquette’s sixth and seventh straight home matches.
“I think our guys are ready,” coach Steve Rodecap said. “I feel like we’re fit because we work really hard on that and on conditioning in practice and I feel like you prepare during the week to make sure that your guys are strong enough and are ready to go.”
The Helfaer Tennis Stadium has been somewhat of a fortress for the team, which has dropped only three of 35 total sets. However, those three have come in the last two matches.
Sophomore Jonathan Schwerin is confident in his team’s home court success and attributes much of that to the support from the home crowd and the support the players give one another.
“It’s a good environment to be in,” he said. “We practice here everyday so we’re pretty used to it already.”
However, freshman Jose Carlos Gutierrez Crowley believes the team’s win streak is just a number, though it does show the team’s progress.
“It says that we are doing good things but we need to keep working hard,” he said. “We are a strong team here at home, so that gives us a lot of confidence.”
Marquette’s first opponent, UW-Green Bay, is currently on a two-game losing streak and has lost three out of five matches, winning only once away from home. Except for its 7-0 victory over Western Illinois, UW-Green Bay’s only other win was a narrow 4-3 result over IUPUI.
In the three losses suffered by the Phoenix, only one set was picked up out of a possible 21.
“It’s always a big match for (Green Bay) to come here and play us,” Rodecap said. “We know that we have to be here and play our best and be hungry.”
Bradley, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. So far this season, the team has yet to play at home and is currently 1-2 overall after losing out to Michigan State 0-7 and to Butler 2-5.
However, the Braves are coming off a fresh 5-2 victory over IUPUI led by senior Milos Romic, who improved to 2-0 in No. 1 singles after a convincing 6-0, 6-2 result over his opponent.
“They have only played a couple of matches so we’re not as familiar with them. But it’s a process,” Rodecap said.
