In the midst of a tough road stretch, the Massachusetts tennis team will travel to Hanover, N.H., to take on Dartmouth on Wednesday after dropping its last two matches.

The Minutewomen spent the past weekend in New York, where they faced tough opponents, Syracuse and Iowa State.

Against the Orange (7-0), UMass was unable to halt Syracuse‘s perfect season, failing to knock off an undefeated team for the second straight match. The Minutewomen (4-3) were swept in doubles play and lost five of six singles matches, falling 6-1 to the Orange.

Less than a day after, an impressive Iowa State squad overwhelmed UMass. Though the Minutewomen were close in many of their matches, taking three to tiebreakers, the Cyclones (4-2) didn’t allow a point on the day, dominating 7-0.

UMass coach Judy Dixon felt her team wasn’t up to the task, citing their attitudes.

‘We’ve had some big team discussions and talks, and I’m hoping to see a change of attitude in some of our players,’ Dixon said.

After having early success at home in their first two matches of the spring season, the Minutewomen have since lost three of four, all away from Amherst.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, has yet to win a match on the season.

The Big Green (0-4) have had over two weeks in between opponents, last playing on Feb. 8 against Boston College. Dartmouth was able to pull off victories in first singles and first doubles but fell at every other position, losing 6-1 to the Eagles (3-2).

Dixon knows that the extended time off for Dartmouth gives UMass an advantage.

‘That helps us in a way because we’ve been playing more matches recently. We need to use this past weekend to our advantage,’ Dixon said. ‘If we don’t use the weekend as an example, Wednesday won’t be pretty.’

Wednesday will be the 13th occasion UMass and Dartmouth will match up against one another. The Minutewomen are 3-9 all time against the Big Green, with their last match coming nearly a year ago.

Last season, Dartmouth gave UMass its first loss, and the Minutewomen failed to score a point. The Big Green swept all doubles and singles matches on their way to routing the Minutewomen, 7-0.

Though Dartmouth hasn’t fared well this season, Dixon senses her team is in for a challenge.

‘Dartmouth is typically a very strong Ivy League school, usually ranked in the top 100, but this year they’re struggling. They can be beaten, but we would need to change our mental attitude for this match in order to win.’

For the match, the starting lineup will be shifted slightly. The consistent duo of Candynce Boney and Maude Lecluyse at No. 1 doubles will be broken up. Playing alongside Lecluyse will be freshman standout Magdalena Ploch. Boney will be moved down to pair with Kaitlyn Carpenter at the No. 3 position.

However, Dixon feels the entire team will have to step up to earn a victory on Wednesday, regardless of position.

‘I expect they’re No. 1 singles and doubles player, Molly Scott, to show up,’ Dixon said. ‘She’s quite good, so this match will need to be won from the bottom up instead of the top down.’

With another back-to-back scenario staring at the Minutewomen this weekend, Dixon expects her team to focus on the task at hand. n>

‘We have big matches facing us this upcoming weekend, but first we have to concentrate on Wednesday,’ Dixon said. ‘I expect the kids to respond to talks we’ve been having and come out and compete because I didn’t feel we competed well this weekend.’

Jay Asser can be reached at jasser@student.umass.edu.