The University of Wisconsin men�s tennis team is set on turning things around. After the Badgers started the season 4-0 with wins over UW-Green Bay, Butler, Northern Illinois and UW-Whitewater, they then went on to lose five straight matches at the hands of North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Louisville and Vanderbilt.

According to head coach Greg Van Emburgh, though, those losses may be a little misleading, as four of the five losses came against opponents ranked in the top 30.

�We�ve looked forward to strengthening our schedule,� Van Emburgh said. �In order to do that, sometimes you have to play some teams on the road, so they�ll return the match the next year.�

With a home match Monday against No. 29 TCU, the Badgers will look to put the losing streak behind them and build off their 7-0 victory over Northwestern Saturday.

�I�ve insinuated to the guys that let�s clean the slate,� Van Emburgh said. �We have a new season.�

The Badgers kicked off the Big Ten season against the Wildcats Saturday with great play at No. 2 doubles from Nolan Polley and sophomore Moritz Baumann. Victories at singles from Nolan Polley, Michael Dierbeger, Jeremy Sonkin and Marek Michalicka � who is now 10-0 in his Wisconsin career � gave UW a win in the conference opener.

Sonkin and the Badgers know that they still have time to right the ship but also realize it won�t come easy.

�We�re realizing, though, that it�s not going to be handed to us; we�re going to have to put a lot into it to get a lot out of the season,� Sonkin said.

The Horned Frogs are coming off a 4-3 home loss to Texas A&M Saturday and have lost two of their last three matches. Before a loss to Oklahoma State Feb. 24, though, TCU had won nine straight meets.

With most of the Badgers’ Big Ten schedule still to be played, Sonkin knows how important a match against a highly ranked team is.