After playing non-conference matches for the past month, the women’s tennis team will resume the Mid-American portion of their schedule.
The Falcons will close out their regular-season action with seven MAC matches, beginning with a four-match road swing. BG will travel to face Northern Illinois today before heading to Western Michigan tomorrow.
“I expect everybody to do well,” Dean said. “Obviously, it is harder for us at the top of the line up, but I expect everyone to be ready and compete. Everyone has got a good shot at winning. We just have to be mentally and physically prepared.”
The last time the Falcons saw these two teams was in November at the Fall MAC Indoor Tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich. However, not everyone on the team had matches against players on NIU or WMU.
“Western Michigan is very tough,” head coach Penny Dean said. “I know we can compete with them, we just have to be ready and be 10 percent better than we were [last] weekend.”
The Broncos are coming off a split last weekend, falling to Northern Illinois 4-3 Friday and then rebounding to defeat Marquette 6-1 Saturday.
The Falcons are coming off a 5-2 loss to Xavier.
The Broncos are 9-6 overall, while the Falcons are 6-7 overall.
“We can compete with Western Michigan,” Dean said. “We just have to be ready.”
Northern Illinois, on the other hand, is coming into this weekend with a four-game winning streak and a 2-0 record in the MAC. The Huskies are 8-3 overall.
“I think the same thing is true of Northern Illinois,” Dean said. “They have good depth and they are stronger than us. Both teams usually play real good depth.”
The Huskies will have some momentum going for them after shutting out Wisconsin-Milwaukee 7-0 last weekend.
“I think Northern Illinois is a team that we need to step up and beat,” Dean said.
Since the doubles teams fared well last weekend, just barely losing the doubles point, Dean is planing on keeping the doubles teams the same this weekend. Last weekend Laura Kokinda and Susie Schoenberger teamed up for the first doubles flight, while Gaby Coello and Alyson Gabel were paired together in the second flight. Lisa Maloney and Heidi Romer played as a team in the third doubles spot.
“I plan on keeping them the same,” Dean said. “At least for the first match against Northern Illinois.”
