How does a team prepare to face the No. 1 team in the nation?
The Northwestern men’s tennis team has faced this question since Thursday, when it found out a matchup with top-seeded Stanford in the first round of the NCAA tournament loomed in the near future.
Coach Paul Torricelli has tried to keep his young team relaxed about its biggest match of the season, slated for Saturday. And he isn’t changing his coaching philosophy.
“It’s just another dual match,” Torricelli said. “Once you start playing, it’s tennis. We can’t overprepare. We just need to relax and have fun. We aren’t going to go crazy this week.”
The team had a light weekend, practicing Friday and Sunday with Saturday off. Tuesday’s practice included extra conditioning drills to aid the team’s speed and stamina. NU (11-11) also worked on game situations to get match-ready.
The Cats will arrive Thursday in Palo Alto, Calif., and have a short night practice, NU junior Brad Erickson said. Friday’s practice will be much more vigorous, and Erickson said all he can do is hope he wakes up Saturday hitting the ball well.
As the nation’s top team, the Cardinal (21-1) commands a certain amount of respect from opponents. Torricelli said Stanford is the benchmark for success in college tennis.
However, the coach doesn’t want his team getting too caught up in the hype.
“It’s a great experience for a rebuilding team to go through,” Torricelli said. “After this, we won’t be awed by anything in the future.”
Erickson, who plays No. 1 singles, agreed with his coach that staying loose is the key to victory. And he is replicating last year’s preparations, when he took a few days off and then came back strong a week-and-a-half before the tournament.
But the NU junior isn’t treating the first-round matchup as just any other.
“We have to lay it all out every game,” Erickson said. “I think we’ll go out loose. There’s no one we need to be in awe of. And there is no reason for being tight.”
CARDINAL RULES: So, Stanford is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. What else does the team have going for it?
pi Tradition: The team won four straight NCAA championships from 1995-1998, including a perfect 28-0 record in ’98.
The Cardinal is 69-6 in the NCAA team tournament in the last 20 years.
The team has won at least 20 matches in 13 straight seasons.
pi Momentum: The Cardinal is ranked first in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and won 22 straight matches before losing at UCLA.
The team won the Pac-10 team championship.
Additionally, it boasts the co-Pac-10 players of the year in Alex Kim and Geoff Abrams, who are also ranked first nationally in doubles.
Kim and Abrams met in the Pac-10 singles championship with Abrams winning his 22nd consecutive match. Combined they are 80-13 in singles and 32-6 in doubles this year.
The team boasts the top three singles players in the conference, and all three are ranked as the top three players in the region.
And the No. 3 singles player, K.J. Hippensteel, is coming off an NCAA doubles title last season.
So do the Cats stand a chance? Hey, Stanford didn’t win it all last year.
MATCH POINTS: For California natives Joost Hol and Jamie Sahara, this weekend is a trip home. And Hol, the Cats No. 2 singles player, is looking forward to returning and hopefully seeing his parents at the Stanford match. “At least we are going somewhere interesting,” Hol said. “Last year we went to Illinois (for NCAAs).” … Erickson was awarded first-team all-Big Ten honors this season and recently was recognized at a Big Ten banquet. “I don’t know if I deserve it,” Erickson said. “I struggled toward the end of the year in singles. But I’ve improved this year and it’s kind of a nice reward.”
