Tournament kicks off at Northwestern

The IU men's tennis team will head up to Evanston, Ill., today to face off against the Northwestern Wildcats in the first round of the Big Ten Championships. The Hoosiers, who are the eighth seed in the tournament, are looking for their second straight win against Northwestern, a team they beat earlier in the season in a closely contested 4-3 match.\nThe Hoosiers will have their hands full as Northwestern is the host of the Big Ten Championships giving them the advantage. IU enters today's match with a 3-7 record in the Big Ten and an 11-10 record overall. \nThe Hoosiers are currently on a seven-game slide and haven't won a match since March 29 when they beat Penn State at home 6-1. Interim coach Matt Pledger said the long road trips have hurt the Hoosiers.\n"We were on the road for seven weeks straight at one point this season, and that takes a toll on you after seven weeks," Pledger said.\nSophomore Jakub Praibis agrees with his coach and said the road trips have made the season longer.\n"It's tough to stay mentally focused with such a long season," Praibis said. "It's hard to prepare and concentrate for every match."\nAlthough the Hoosiers have dropped seven straight matches, Pledger said his team's performance against Illinois last week was a step in the right direction.\n"We need to just play with nothing to lose like we did last week against Illinois." Pledger said. "Tomorrow against Northwestern has to be a team effort. We've had times this year where certain guys have had great matches, and some guys don't show up." \nOne guy who showed up last week for the Hoosiers was Praibis, who lost a tough three-set match to the 14th ranked player in the nation, Illinois' Rajeev Ram. If the Hoosiers beat the Wildcats today, they will face the No. 1 ranked team in the nation the Illinois Fighting Illini at 10 a.m. Friday. Praibis said he is excited about the possibility of having a rematch against Ram. "Sure it is always interesting to play against the No. 1 team in the nation," Praibis said. \nToday's match could be the culmination of a great career for Hoosier senior Zach Held. Held said he is excited about his last Big Ten match.\n"I'm kind of looking forward to everything." Held said. "This is my last competitive match of my career. Looking back, it all seems to go by pretty fast"