Even the chilly outdoor courts weren’t enough to cool down the red-hot Michigan women’s tennis team this weekend. The Wolverines were on fire at home as they swept two Big Ten opponents, Minnesota and Iowa.

“If we had good weather here, we would play outdoors all the time,” Michigan coach Ronnie Bernstein said. “We have a lot of L.A. girls, and because of the schedule, we have had the opportunity to play a lot of outdoor matches in a row.”

The NCAA Championships is typically played outdoors, so in preparation, the Wolverines will use any opportunity they can to hit on the outdoor courts.

But they almost missed the chance to play outside this weekend.

“We were warming up inside and we did not know (until the match) that we would play outside," sophomore Rika Tatsuno said.

According to NCAA rules, if the weather is above 50 degrees, the match has to be played outside. Iowa coach Daryl Greenan referenced this rule when he and Bernstein discussed whether the match was to be played outdoors.

Yesterday against Iowa, senior Lindsey Howard and sophomore Denise Muresan put their warm-ups on just 36 minutes after taking them off as they quickly completed an 8-0 win at the No. 3 doubles position.

“They play well outside," Bernstein said. "The points are longer, and they did a good job playing close to the net, and they missed very few returns.”

Overall, the No. 19 Wolverines beat Iowa on Sunday 6-1, with the players donning long-sleeved uniforms until the temperature warmed up at the start of singles play.

Besides the crowd and chirping birds, the only noises yesterday came from the grunting of the Hawkeyes' No. 1 singles player, freshman Sonja Molnar, who gained Iowa's lone point in the match against senior Chisako Sugiyama. Sugiyama lost serve at 2-2, yelling out in frustration. After the game, Bernstein came over and talked to Sugiyama to attempt to calm her down.

“What (Sugiyama) does best is take balls early ... and I told her to do that a little more,” Bernstein said. "The ball (Molnar) was giving her was tough to handle.”

Though Sugiyama dropped her Sunday match, her victory on Saturday (4-6, 6-1, 6-4), moved her within three victories of tying former Wolverine Sarah Cyganiak for the most career victories at Michigan (100).

Inside the Varsity Tennis Center on Saturday, the Wolverines defeated Minnesota 5-2 behind a commanding 5-1 record in singles matches. Tatsuno, who has crept back into the national singles rankings at No. 111, needed just nine games to dispose of No. 1 Golden Gopher singles player Karina Chiarelli. With the victory, the Wolverines maintained their perfect Big Ten record to remain tied with the Big Ten powerhouses, including No. 1 Northwestern.

Tatsuno, fresh off her victory at No. 1 singles against Minnesota, battled yesterday at the No. 2 singles and squeaked out a close straight-set victory, 7-6 (8-6). Though Michigan had already clinched a team win, both Tatsuno and her opponent, Hawkeye sophomore Alexis Dorr seemed to be unaffected.

At 6-all in the first set tiebreaker, Tatsuno stopped play for a medic after it appeared she rolled her ankle.

“I freaked out my opponent (by taping the ankle) because she was worrying too much about me,” Tatsuno said. “That’s why I pulled out the first set.”

Ultimately, she pulled out the second set and improved to 6-3 at the No. 2 singles position this season.

With the sweep of Big Ten competition over the weekend, Michigan extended its home winning streak to 23 games. The Wolverines hope to pad these numbers next weekend when the team faces off against Wisconsin and No. 1 Northwestern at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wildcats made history last year by winning their 10th straight Big Ten title. But Bernstein isn’t going to put any more emphasis than usual on one match.

“We have Wisconsin on Saturday and they are a deep team,” Bernstein said. “It’s just another match. If we play well we are going to a have a shot—we just need to have all of our girls play well.”