After another grueling practice at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility, seniors Jimmy McGuire, Adam Hourani and Goran Topalo took a breather to recollect on their time at MSU last Tuesday.

During the 2001 season, the team suffered numerous setbacks on its way to a 7-18 record, which included a 1-10 mark in Big Ten play.

"Our (sophomore) year was probably our hardest," McGuire said. "We had the youngest team in the nation that year with no juniors or seniors."

Since then, the team has improved steadily, going 14-12 last season, and sprinting out of the gate with an unblemished 8-0 record to start the 2003 campaign.

The team currently sits at 9-5, which is a far cry from its 8-15 and 7-17 record in 2001 and 2002, respectively. "I think the fact that we struggled so much that year helped us out a lot," Hourani said. "Now whenever we struggle, we can look to each other for motivation."

McGuire said during their sophomore season, their coach looked to them to provide leadership on the team. He also said none of the players were prepared to take on the role of a captain.

"We were only a year older than everyone else," he said.

Hourani and McGuire now serve as co-captains of the team. Duties as co-captains include serving as a bridge between players and coaches and helping other players with any problems they may have - tennis or otherwise.

Hourani said he thinks the team is much closer now than it was during his freshman campaign, where there were seven upperclassmen, including five seniors, to go along with five freshmen.

Topalo, who is from the Czech Republic, said Hourani, McGuire and other teammates helped him out, both on and off the court, during his initial arrival to MSU.

"I tried to concentrate on school and tennis my freshman year," he said. "Fun came later."

While each senior relied on each other during their early years at MSU - they lived together during their sophomore year - freshman Mike Brown is alone in his rookie campaign. And each of the seniors tries their best to make Brown aware of the pecking order.

"We make him do stupid stuff like carry our bags," McGuire said. "Just typical freshman duties, he usually gets pimped. We pimp him a lot."

As the only freshman, Brown has a lot of bags to carry.

While Brown has time to move up the hierarchy, the three seniors are in the last quarter of their term.

All of the goals the seniors set for the remainder of the season are team related, such as finishing in the top half of the Big Ten and making the NCAA tournament.

And while neither Hourani or McGuire have aspirations of joining the ATP, the professional tour, Topalo said playing in the pros would be living a life-long dream.

"I've been playing tennis for 16 years," he said. "I just have so much love for the game. I'll have to see what happens after college."

And even after all those less than impressive seasons, the team's sizzling start didn't come as a surprise, McGuire said.

"We expected to go 8-0," said McGuire, who seemed to be the more confident of the three. "We go out on the court expecting to win."

He said the more shocking turn of events has been the team losing five of its last six matches. He also said the team still has the same confident attitude it had before its recent losing streak.

And even with those losses, and a tough Big Ten opener against No. 22 Ohio State scheduled for Saturday, the team is focused on a successful season.

"A few tough losses doesn't affect our team goals," Topalo said. "Our prospects to do well the rest of the season are still high."