The Washington men's tennis team is spending what will hopefully be a long weekend in South Bend, Ind., to play in the first round of the NCAA championship tournament. This is the 13th year that the Huskies have competed in the postseason tournament; all thirteen appearances have been under coach Matt Anger. They have also made it to the second round in nine out of the past 10 years, and are coming into this year's tournament having won their first-round match in five consecutive years.

The No. 32 Huskies' first opponent in the championship will be the University of Wisconsin, ranked No. 38 in the nation and appearing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. Their only ranked player, freshman Moritz Baumann, is No. 108 in the latest singles poll.

If the Huskies defeat Wisconsin, they will likely meet host Notre Dame in the second round. Facing the Irish would be a particularly exciting opportunity for the men, who lost to Notre Dame 6-1 in March. Since then, however, the Huskies have put in a lot of work and have improved both as individual players and as a team.

"If we get to play Notre Dame, it would be great because it would mean that we got past the first round, which will be tough in and of itself," Anger said. "We're definitely playing better than we were a couple months ago."

Under coach Anger, the Huskies boast the distinction of having won the most matches on the road in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament, with 10 victories since 1999. It seems ironic then that this year's team has had some struggles in away matches, not having won a match on the road against a top 25 opponent once this season.

These struggles can be attributed to the relative youth of the team. As players have gained more experience, the Huskies' results on the road have improved. The UW's last match of the season was a 6-1 defeat of Oregon.

In the recent Pac-10 singles and doubles tournaments in Ojai, Calif., many Washington players made impressive plays away from home. In addition to the success of No. 64 Alex Slovic, freshman Derek Drabble also showed increased comfort on the court, looking like a veteran as he reached the final in both the single and double invitational draws. Although he lost in the singles final, his win with partner Andy Kuharszky is a sign of good things to come in this weekend's championships.

"Now that we've been on the road a few times, we are playing better," Anger said. "Alex Slovic, Derek Drabble and Patrik Fischer are also playing better individually, which makes us better as a team."

This weekend will prove exciting competition for the Huskies, as it will provide them the venue to demonstrate the skills that they have been developing all season.

"The NCAA tournament weekend takes on a whole life of its own," Anger said. "We're going in healthy and playing good tennis, but you never know how it's going to go. That's what makes it so exciting."

Reach reporter Risa Pavia at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.