There's a big weekend coming up in Big Ten tennis. I'm lucky enough to have a front row seat for the matches at the University of Illinois on Easter Sunday (No. 37 Illini women vs. No. 32 Purdue, followed by No. 15 Illini men vs. No.41 Indiana), but that's only a fraction of what's going on. Here's some of the matches you should check out in person or online:
Saturday:
Men-No. 48 Northwestern at No. 26 Michigan-The Wolverine record is an interesting one -- 7-7 overall, but 3-0 in the Big Ten. Consistency has not been there strong point this year, but they have been strong in attendance (No. 3 in the country) and I think that might be what pushes them over the Wildcats.
Women-No. 42 Purdue at No. 44 Indiana-The Hooisers haven't been doing great against ranked opponents (1-3) and are coming off a three match losing streak, but they did get by Wisconsin last weekend. I don't know if they can defeat Purdue, though.
Sunday:
Men-No. 58 Penn State at No. 73 Iowa-The Hawkeyes are 10-11 against the Nittany Lions. They need to get through Ohio State Friday night. I don't think they can get by the Buckeyes, but I think they may be right up there with Penn State.
Women-
No. 56 Minnesota at Penn State-The Nittany Lion women had some good wins until getting shutout by the Princeton Tigers. They've had two weeks to rest up since. The Gophers are at 9-7 so I'd look for a pretty even match between these two.
No. 42 Purdue at No. 37 Illinois-I am really looking forward to this one and glad I'll be able to see it in person. Both of these teams are hot this year and -- as you can see by their rankings -- there's not a lot of separation. I think their may be a hometown advantage to the Illini that puts them over, but come back to BigTenTennis.com for the full scoop.
All rankings listed are national, from the list of March 30, 2010.
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