On March 28, the Michigan men’s tennis team’s hopes of claiming an at-large NCAA Tournament bid were next to nothing.

It had just lost its eighth consecutive match against then-No. 24 Wisconsin to drop to 6-12 on the season.

“In singles, we were making too many mistakes and giving too many points away,” Michigan coach Bruce Berque said. “We’d have one or two spots in the lineup that weren’t competing at a high level.”

Additionally, redshirt freshman Drew Daniel said too many players were “down on confidence”. He said that might have been a reason for the team’s extended slump midway through the season.

The Wolverines desperately needed to string together a handful of conference victories down the stretch and hope to pull off an upset somewhere to have any chance at making it to the NCAA Regionals.

And that’s just what the 35th-ranked Wolverines did in the final five weeks of the season. Michigan (13-14 overall) won seven of its last nine matches and upset then-No. 11 Illinois to secure its Tournament bid.

The Wolverines face off against No. 29 Notre Dame this Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Ohio State. The Buckeyes are the host school in the four-team NCAA Regional Championship with Xavier filling the final spot.

Michigan’s match again the Fighting Irish (13-12) is the team's second this season.

The Wolverines dropped a 5-2 decision March 4 at Notre Dame after winning just one of the six singles matches.

“Our team is pretty conscious about what point in the season they were playing well and which point they weren’t,” Berque said. “We’ve really had a rollercoaster.

"We’re playing arguably our best right now, so the team is aware of that and they’re excited to play Notre dame again.”

Berque has stressed to his team the importance of winning the initial doubles point and starting off with energy and a heightened mental focus that could translate over into singles play.

“The key is every single player going on the court needs to be mentally prepared to fight for every point regardless of the score,” Berque said.

If each individual player worries about his own match and blocks out the scores of his teammates' matches, look for Michigan to be successful on Friday. But one little hiccup or distraction could potentially end the Wolverines’ season.

“Postseason — it’s a different mindset that you’re in,” junior Mike Sroczynski said. “Every match that you play could be your last and we're approaching everything with a more determined focus . . . We try to keep that in perspective and use it as something to motivate us.”