Behind stellar performances from its trio of talented freshmen, the No. 50 UW men's tennis team edged out No. 51 Penn State (7-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) 4-3 in their Big Ten conference opener Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
First-year players Moritz Baumann, Michael Dierberger and Michael Muskievicz proved to be the difference in the contest, winning all of their singles matches and both doubles matches they were involved in.
Baumann fought back from a first-set loss to defeat Adam Slagter of the Nittany Lions 6-7, 6-3, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot. At No. 4, Dierberger, propelled by a first-set tiebreak win, took out Penn State's Ryan Gormley 7-6, 6-3. Muskievicz cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over James Dwyer at the No. 6 spot.
The doubles matches set the tone for the entire day. Down a service break at 5-6, the Badgers' No. 2 duo of Muskievicz and Dierberger fought back to take a 7-6 lead. After three service holds and the score at 8-8, the freshman pair dug out of an 0-3 hole in an intense tiebreaker to beat Bradley Hunter and Ryan Berger 9-8 (5) to clinch the doubles point for UW.
Junior Nolan Polley and freshman Moritz Baumann won an equally exciting match at the No. 1 spot, taking a 9-8 (5) upset victory over No. 23 Slagter and Michael James. The southpaw duo fought back down 4-7 to take the match in a tiebreaker.
Senior captain Lachezar Kasarov and junior Felipe Bellido cruised 8-3 at the No. 3 doubles spot over Penn State's Chris Sherman and Guillame St-Maurice.
The Badgers (7-1, 1-0) took out UW-Green Bay (3-2) later in the day by a score of 5-1. UW will have just under two weeks off before traveling to Evanston, Ill. to take on No. 38 Northwestern.
Women's tennis
The UW women's tennis team continued its struggle against a rash of injuries, losing to Princeton (3-2, 0-0 Ivy League) 7-0 on Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
With senior No. 1 singles player Caitlin Burke out indefinitely and junior Nicole Beck worn with injury problems, the Badgers (3-6, 0-1 Big Ten) struggled to gain any momentum in the match despite two close doubles matches and three singles matches decided in three sets.
Sophomores Erin Jobe and Liz Carpenter and junior Chelsea Nusslock all won the first set in their respective matches, but could not hang on for the victory.
""Today was an incredibly frustrating match because if you look closely at it, we could have won the match 4-3,"" UW head coach Patti Henderson said. ""We could have won the doubles point, we had opportunities at No. 1 doubles, we had opportunities at No. 2 doubles, we lost both of those matches close.""
The Badgers will have approximately two weeks off before their next contest at Indiana on March 3.
""The goal for us at this point is we have an opportunity with this week off to try and get everybody healthy,"" Henderson said.
