Friday afternoon will mark the beginning of the Big Ten Tournament for the men’s tennis team, as they await the winner of No. 7-seeded Minnesota and No. 10-seeded Michigan State after receiving a first-round bye.

After a rollercoaster ride of a season, the team clinched a two seed in the tournament with its sweep of Michigan State in the regular season finale and has put themselves in a position for success in the upcoming tournament. In addition to their sweep of the Spartans in the last game of the season, the Badgers also swept the Golden Gophers in their second-to-last game of the regular season, meaning they have seen recent success against both of their potential second-round opponents. Regardless of this fact, sophomore Michael Muskievicz believes the team cannot overlook anyone at this level of competition.

“I think every match we play the main thing is just being prepared, going out and giving it 100 percent and letting the results take care of itself,” Muskievicz said. “I don’t think any time we can walk into a match and just expect ourselves to win because then you’re not prepared, and you’ll look past people, and that’s when problems will arise.”

After a shaky start left the Badgers at 4-5 early in the season, the team has come together and taken control of their season, winning 12 of their final 15 matches. They went 8-2 in the conference and finished undefeated at home for the first time since 1991.

Senior captain Nolan Polley believes that facing adversity earlier in the season will end up benefiting the team down the stretch.

“I think we had a tough start in February,” Polley said, “but the losses have really made us a better team and helped us out, so I think we should be in good shape.”

The Badgers are looking to feed off of their late season success to keep them rolling throughout their upcoming matches.

With their overall confidence high right now, the team feels ready to face any of the challenges that might lie ahead of them.

“One of our goals was to do really well in the Big Ten and obviously in the Big Ten Tournament,” Polley said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we don’t want to go out and take an early exit. We want to do well.”

Although it can sometimes be difficult to remain focused on the individual match as you approach a major conference tournament and then the national tournament directly thereafter, coach Greg Van Emburgh and his players realize how important it is to take it one step at a time and remain focused on what challenges are directly ahead for the team.

“I think you just have to be ready for everybody. You really don’t want to look past [anyone], saying, ‘If we do win the Big Ten, how is it going to affect our NCAA seeding?’ It’s so far off, so you really don’t want to look that far ahead. You want to try to have the guys ready for each match,” Van Emburgh said.

Whether they end up facing Michigan State or Minnesota, Wisconsin knows that this is the time in the season when champions are made, so they must approach this match prepared and ready to fight as if it was their last time on the court.

“I think everyone realizes that we’re running out of matches to accomplish our goal, so this weekend is another chance to get it done and keep moving forward with the program,” Muskievicz said. “We’re at the point in our season where if you don’t win, you stop playing.”