The men’s tennis team will try to close out its season on a high note as the Elis face Brown at the Cullman Courts this afternoon.

The Bulldogs (6-13, 2-4 Ivy), now out of contention for an Ivy League title, will have their hands full with the Bears (22-5, 6-0), who are undefeated in the Ivy League this season and are already guaranteed a share of the conference championship.

“Since we have no chance at winning conference, Brown thinks that it can just walk over us,” Rory Green ’08 said. “But we’re going to use that as our edge over them.”

It has been relatively smooth sailing this year for Brown, which has won seven of its matches by 7-0, and 10 of them by 6-1 and 5-2.

The Bears have shown themselves to be an especially powerful force in the Ancient Eight, dominating every Ivy school except the University of Pennsylvania, who lost a close 4-3 match to Brown.

Last weekend, the Bears whitewashed Dartmouth 7-0, and silenced Harvard with a 5-2 victory. Now only the Elis stand in the way of a perfect Ivy season for Brown.

The Bulldogs have had a less-than-stellar season this year. Although several players have made improvements in their game over the course of the spring, the team as a whole fell short on several important occasions. Against Penn and Princeton, the Elis came close to victory but ultimately dropped 4-3 decisions to both teams.

“The whole team is a little disappointed with the record we have for the end of the season,” Milosz Gudzowski ’06 said. “But that is not going to change our mood we have set when we play Brown.”

Brandon Wai ’07, who was nationally ranked for several weeks this season, has been a standout for the Elis. He has played fiercely in both singles and doubles play. Most recently, Wai showed no mercy in last Sunday’s match against Dartmouth, winning his No. 1 singles match, 6-2, 6-3 and his No. 1 doubles match alongside Ryan Murphy ’05, 8-3.

The Bulldogs will rely on the talented duo of Wai and Murphy to help the team get off to good start against the Bears.

“We just have to play as we usually do,” Rory Green ’08 said. “We have to get some momentum going at the start of the game by winning our doubles matches, which are crucial in getting a big advantage.”

Gudzowski has also been an important asset to the team. He was the sole winner for the Elis against Harvard last weekend and won his No. 4 singles match in straight sets against the Big Green 6-0, 6-3.

The season finale against Brown will be the last match for seniors Murphy, Andrew Arons, and Johnny Lu.