Winners of 4 straight, men at home

The red-hot Minnesota men’s tennis team will be opening up a four-match homestand this weekend against Indiana and Purdue.

The Gophers are in the midst of a five-match winning streak, with four of the victories coming over ranked opponents.

“It’s very interesting to see the guys battle and compete as hard as they do. It’s been amazing really to see how they fight for each other,” assistant head coach Urban Ljubic said. “We kind of expected to win these matches. It’s a great thing, and we’re on our way to do great things this weekend.”

This weekend will bring two more ranked teams in No. 27 Indiana and No. 64 Purdue.

The Hoosiers are much improved this year and are bringing their 18-4 record and a nine-match win streak to Minneapolis.

Purdue currently possesses a 10-9 record and is coming off back-to-back losses against Iowa and Illinois.

Ljubic knows that handling business at home will be very important, and it starts with this weekend.

“We usually have a pretty good crowd out here, and we want to make sure people are excited about watching our players compete. The Indiana match this Friday is going to be extremely difficult and hopefully we’ll be able to get a ‘W.’”

Women back on road after win

The women’s team will be back on the road after securing its first win in nearly a month and a half against Michigan State.

This weekend the women will also face Purdue and Indiana.

The No. 66 Boilermakers are coming off a 4-3 victory over Iowa.

The Hoosiers, meanwhile, are reeling, having lost their last six dual matches.

Injuries have been a problem for the Gophers throughout the season, with last weekend’s victory being the first time since March 4 that Minnesota had a full lineup.

Other Notes

Senior Tobias Wernet was named Big Ten Player of the Week for his performance in victories over Michigan State and Michigan.