The UW men's tennis team was unable to get back on track this weekend, dropping two Big Ten road contests at Indiana Friday and at Penn State Sunday. The Badgers (1-4 Big Ten, 8-8 overall) were defeated 4-3 by the Hoosiers, and 5-2 by the Nittany Lions. UW has now lost four consecutive matches, three of them in conference play.
Against the Hoosiers (2-3, 13-7), the Badgers started off strong by capturing the doubles point, winning two of three matches to go up 1-0. The No. 1 duo of Jeremy Sonkin and Nolan Polley won 8-6 in their match, and the No. 2 group of Felipe Bellido and Lachezar Kasarov followed with an 8-6 victory of their own. Bellido and Kasarov are now 4-0 in doubles play in the Big Ten, and 7-1 on the season.
In singles, Sonkin notched his 12th win of the season at the No. 1 spot, taking down Dmytro Ishtuganov in straight sets, 7-6 (3), 6-3. The only other singles victory for UW came at the No. 5 position, where Bellido stayed hot with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) triumph over Indiana's Michael McCarthy. The only other Badger to win a set was sophomore Nolan Polley, who was outlasted by the Hoosiers' David Bubenicek 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. This was just Polley's fifth loss of the season.
Sunday, the Badgers came close in several matches, but were unable to knock off the No. 46 Nittany Lions (3-2, 13-2). UW came out strong and again captured the doubles point, this time winning at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Bellido and Kasarov remained undefeated in conference doubles play, winning 8-6. At No. 3, the combination of sophomores Brennan Phippen and Elliot Bisnow was able to pull out its first victory of the season with an 8-4 victory, clinching the first point of the match for UW.
However, the Badgers were unable to keep the momentum going, bowing out in five of their six singles matches. Freshman Gian Hodgson was the lone victor for the Badgers, knocking off Penn State's Brenden Lynch 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot. Three other Badgers pushed their matches to a third set, but were unable to secure a point. Polley, Phippen, and Bellido were all able to take the second set from their opponents, but were not able to capture the third for the match.
UW is back in action at home this weekend, taking on Iowa on Saturday and No. 52 Minnesota Sunday. Both matches will begin at 12 p.m. at the Nielsen Tennis Center.
