After shocking upset, UW falls to Michigan
After a shocking victory over Michigan State, the UW women's tennis team (2-8 Big Ten, 6-19 overall) fell a short in its bid to make a deep run in the Big Ten Championship tournament this weekend, falling to Michigan (8-2 Big Ten, 16-6 overall).
The Wolverines jumped out of the gates fast and secured points by winning the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches. In the No. 2 doubles match-up, Michigan's team of Allie Shafner and Chisako Sugiyama held on to take down the Badger combo of Chelsea Nusslock and Morgan Tuttle with the final tally of 8-6. Much of the same was dealt to the Badgers in the No. 3 doubles match as Lindsay Howard and Nina Yaftali of Michigan beat Badger's Kaylan Caiati and Erin Jobe by the same score of 8-6. The No. 1 doubles match featuring the No. 30-ranked Michigan duo of Kara Delicata and Debra Streifler, and the No. 39 ranked combo of Badgers Caitlin Burke and Elizabeth Carpenter finished deadlocked at seven when the match was abandoned because the Wolverines had already secured the doubles point.
Although doubles matches didn't go as well as hoped for the Badgers, they still had the opportunity to reclaim the lead and hopefully make an effort to pull off their second upset in as many days. In the No. 1 singles match, All-Big Ten player Caitlin Burke defeated Kara Delicata 6-2, 6-0 to notch UW's first point. However, that turned out to be the only point the Badgers were able to muster. The Wolverines won the next three singles matches and forced the final two matches to be abandoned as they won the overall match 4-1, advancing to the Big Ten Championship semifinals.
—Tom Lea
Men's tennis falls to Buckeyes
The UW men's tennis team was eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, dropping a 4-0 contest to No. 10 Ohio State (10-0, 23-1) in the quarterfinals in Minneapolis.
The eighth-seeded Badgers (3-7, 11-12) could not duplicate their performance of the previous day, when they took down Purdue 4-1 in the opening round.
As the top seed, the Buckeyes proved to be too much for the young Badgers, winning the first four completed matches to clinch the victory. Ohio State came out of the gates winning a pair of 8-4 matches to capture the doubles point. The Badger tandem of sophomore Felipe Bellido and junior co-captain Lachezar Kasarov led 7-5 at the No. 2 spot, but the match was abandoned due to the Buckeyes' sealing of the doubles point.
In singles play, two Badgers lead their matches before they were abandoned due to the insurmountable 4-0 OSU lead. Sophomore Nolan Polley, the nation's 114th ranked player, led No. 99 Chris Klingemann 6-3, 2-3 at the No. 2 slot. The Kentucky transfer concluded his season with a team-high 17 singles wins. Also, Kasarov led No. 118 Devin Mullings 6-3, 3-4 at the No. 3 position.
Despite a record just below the .500 mark, the Badgers are pleased with the progress made this season under new head coach Greg Van Emburgh. With all seven players on the current roster returning and three excellent recruits coming in, next season has a lot of potential for this young and talented squad.
It's nice to have such a young team because I'm excited to see how much they improve as they get another year older,\ Van Emburgh said. ""I wish the next season started tomorrow.""
— Chris Lindeke
Kaiser, Jones, Elliot lead UW golf
The UW women and men's golf teams were in action this weekend as they both tried to finish strong at the Big Ten Championships. The men played in Illinois and finished eighth in the tournament with a 72-hole score of 1,201, only four shots behind seventh-place Penn State. The men were led by junior Garrett Jones and sophomore Jeff Kaiser, who both finished tied for eighth place, each shooting 293 for the tournament. Freshmen Tyler Obermueller finished in a tie for 39th place, marking the best finish for a UW freshman since Garrett Jones finished alone in 39th place after the 2004 Big Ten Championships.
The UW women's team finished with a final score of 1,252, earning it a ninth-place finish. Sophomore Katie Elliot recorded her best career finish at the Big Ten Championships when she finished in a 22nd-place tie. Senior Lindsay McMillan finished tied for 28th place after her four-round total of 309 marked the best score for a 72-hole event in her career. The final score of 1,252 was the fifth-best 72-hole team score in school history, and put them six shots ahead of 10th-place finisher Illinois.
— Tom Lea\
