The UW men's tennis team began a season filled with high expectations by sweeping Butler and Northern Illinois 7-0 and 6-1 respectively in a doubleheader last Saturday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
In the absence of UW's top two players in the singles lineup, juniors Jeremy Sonkin and Nolan Polley, senior captain Lachezar Kasarov stepped up for the Badgers (2-0) with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 win at the No. 1 singles spot over Butler's James Low. Kasarov finished 2-0 in singles the day after defeating NIU's Adam Ford 6-4, 6-7, 10-3 in the second match of the day.
Juniors Felipe Bellido and Brennen Phippen, sophomore Gian Hodgson and freshmen Michael Muskievicz and Moritz Baumann also registered undefeated singles records that day. Bellido, Hodgson, Muskievicz and Baumann each notched two victories.
Baumann, a highly-regarded prospect from Inzlingen, Germany who joined the Badgers earlier this month, was impressive at No. 2 singles with consecutive straight-set victories over Butler's Evan West and NIU's Alex Friesen. Phippen recorded a 6-0, 6-1 win over Butler's Sam Brown in his lone singles match of the day. The Badgers' only singles loss came after Polley was defeated by NIU's Brian Livingston 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
The Badger doubles duos of Polley and Baumann, Muskievicz and freshman Michael Dierberger, and Bellido and Kasarov were also perfect. Veterans Bellido and Kasarov were particularly impressive, surrendering a total of just four games in both of their matches combined.
This weekend the Badgers will head south to take on Florida Gulf Coast University Feb. 3, followed by a match the next day at No. 11 Miami.
In other men's tennis news, head coach Greg Van Emburgh announced over winter break the signing of Peter Marrack, an accomplished recruit and one of Canada's top players, to a national letter of intent. The Mississauga, Ontario native chose UW over the likes of Big Ten foes Illinois, Michigan and Penn State. Marrack will join the team for the 2007-08 season.
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
