By Ben Breiner
the daily cardinal
The No. 40 UW men's tennis team will be wrapping up its season in the NCAA tournament and will play their opening round match against the University of Washington May 11.
The Badgers accomplished a big season goal by receiving the NCAA bid and finishing fourth in the conference. Wisconsin had a 15-10 record and won six of their 10 conference matches.
""[Getting the bid] was very important,"" head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. ""I feel like we have some good momentum on our side and we should be going into that match confident and ready to play.""
Washington compiled a 16-6 record and a 4-3 record against Pac 10 foes. The Huskies have won their last four matches and turned a 0-3 conference start into an NCAA bid. Alex Slovic is the top singles player for Washington and finished second in the conference singles tournament.
The Badgers' doubles pairs will be headed by junior Nolan Polley and freshman Michael Dierberger, while freshman Moritz Boumann pairs up with senior Lachezar Kasarov. Jeremy Sonkin and Michael Muskievicz have held the third spot for Wisconsin late in the season.
""I know their coach through a friend and I am sure they will be ready to go,"" Van Emburgh said. ""We're trying to put the best team on the court that gives us the best chance to win.""
Wisconsin's top singles player on the season was Baumann who won 16 of his 21 matches and is currently rated as the No. 112 singles player nationally. The team's lone senior, Kasarov, was a middling 14-15 in singles play and was overshadowed by a 17-8 record in doubles. Polley usually plays in the second spot and was sitting at 13-13 before closing the season on a four match winning streak.
This team has no players who will attend the NCAA singles or doubles tournament.
""I think when you don't get a player in the singles or doubles tournaments it is obviously been a team effort."" Van Emburgh said. ""Everything that we've done, the wins that we've had, the close matches that we've lost, it's a team effort.""
In early April, the Badgers sat one game above .500 and were 1-3 against the Big Ten. Since then, UW rattled off a 5-2 record with both losses coming at the hands of Ohio State who is currently ranked No. 3 in the country.
The match will take place in South Bend, Ind. If Wisconsin does advance it will face the winner of the Notre Dame-Butler match.
