Despite the absence of its top two players and captain, the five-man UW men's tennis team achieved an eye-opening performance at this past weekend's Gopher Invitational at Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
Competing against Drake, UW-Green Bay, New Mexico, Iowa and Minnesota, the team compiled a 13-3 record in singles to go along with a 5-1 record in doubles without junior stars Nolan Polley and Jeremy Sonkin. Senior captain Lachezar Kasarov also did not participate.
Junior Felipe Bellido swapped between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots to finish with a 4-0 record to lead the Badgers in singles. Freshmen Michael Dierberger and Mike Muskievicz lost only one match a piece on the weekend. Sophomore Gian Hodgson turned in a 2-2 performance, including a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Iowa's No. 1 singles player Tommy McGeorge. Junior Elliot Bisnow won his only singles match of the weekend when he defeated Iowa's Scott Elwell 6-0, 6-1.
In doubles, the young tandem of Dierberger and Muskievicz put on quite a display, going 3-0 on the weekend, including a huge 8-6 triumph over Minnesota's top doubles duo of D.J. Geatz and Nic Edelfsen. Both players are nationally ranked—Geatz is No. 37, while Edelfsen is at No. 84. Bellido teamed with Hodgson in one match and Bisnow in another to capture two doubles victories on the weekend.
The Badgers were undefeated in all matches against UW-Green Bay and Big Ten foe Iowa.
UW's next fall tournament will take place October 19 to 22, when the team will head to Bloomington, Ind. to compete in the Hoosier Invitational.
Sonkin participated in his first action of the season at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Ok. That tournament concludes this Wednesday. This event features 36 of the top 40 players in the Fila national singles rankings, including last year's tournament champion John Isner from Georgia, 2006 NCAA singles finalist Somdev Devvarman of Virginia, and 2006 ACC Player of the Year Luigi D'Agord.
However, Sonkin, ranked No. 80 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, failed to make it out of the first round, losing against James McGee of North Carolina State Monday 3-6, 6-1, 3-6. He did not have to participate in the prequalifying events last weekend, but could not get past his first round opponent.
