Michigan tennis player Anthony Jackson started out strong in his singles match against Wisconsin yesterday, taking the first set 6-4. Wisconsin"s Scott Rutherford didn"t look like he had the answer for Jackson"s athleticism and strong forehand, and Jackson looked relaxed going into the second set.

He shouldn"t have relaxed so early. In the second set, Jackson"s concentration and confidence disappeared faster than Britney Spears" dignity, as Rutherford jumped out to a 5-1 lead en route to winning the set 6-3.

Come out firing. Then, lose focus and start struggling.

Sounds more than a little like Michigan"s season so far.

After a 5-0 start, the Wolverines lost 7 of their next 8 games, taking them to the 6-7 mark they brought to the Varsity Tennis Center to face the Badgers.

Jackson"s slide continued in the third set, as he fell behind 3-1, to the noisy cheers of Rutherford"s teammates.

"Coach told me I looked like I was out to lunch out there," Jackson said. "I"m not in good condition, and I just felt like I had no energy."

Fortunately for the Wolverines, Jackson somehow found a spark, which was fanned into a blaze by the Wolverines" shouts of enthusiasm as he broke Rutherford"s serve and then tied the set at three games apiece.

"The crowd started getting riled up, and I knew the match was on the line, so I just went out and did it," Jackson said.

Jackson began to look like he did in the first set, and he clinched Michigan"s 4-3 victory by finishing Rutherford off with a final score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

The Wolverines were in a hole after losing all three doubles matches in an uninspired effort. The top doubles pairing of Henry Beam and Chris Shaya lost 9-7 to Wisconsin"s pair of Rutherford and Scott Green, while Michigan"s other pairs suffered a similar fate. Danny McCain and Jackson lost 8-4, while Ben Cox and Greg Novak went down 9-8.

After this dismal beginning, the Wolverines came out for the singles matches a determined bunch, with victories coming from juniors Ben Cox, Danny McCain and Greg Novak. Michigan"s Brett Baudinet lost his match in straight sets, so the Wolverines needed a victory from either Henry Beam or Jackson for the win.

Beam, playing next to Jackson, had his hands full with Wisconsin"s top player, Danny Westerman. Aside from providing a running commentary on the match"s progress, Westerman also kept Beam busy with strong serving and powerful baseline strokes.

Beam lost a hotly contested first set 7-5, serving a double fault to give Westerman the advantage. But Beam came back convincingly to take the second set, 6-2. Despite a number of powerful aces, Beam couldn"t quite finish the match off, dropping the last set, 6-4.

By that time, though, Jackson"s victory against Rutherford had already sealed the deal, bringing Michigan"s record back up to .500 and giving the Wolverines something to build on as they enter the heart of their Big Ten schedule.

Although happy with the end result, Mark Mees was not completely thrilled with Michigan"s overall performance.

"We looked pretty bad in doubles we came out and played some pretty bad tennis," Mees said. "But, we did a 180 coming back for singles. We dug down, worked hard, and got it done."

When asked whether this win would give his team the momentum needed to shrug off their tailspin, he was skeptical.

"Momentum is an easy thing to talk about, but you just have to go out and do it," Mees said. "We need to practice and play hard every day, and that"s what will build momentum."

Come out firing. Then, lose focus and start struggling. What next?

Mees isn"t sure, but Anthony Jackson and his teammates showed yesterday with their 4-3 victory against Wisconsin that they have it in them to pull another 180 and turn their season back in the right direction.