After cracking the top 20 for the first time in 32 years, the No. 19 Wisconsin men's tennis team suffered two disappointing losses 4-3 to Illinois and Indiana in its first weekend of Big Ten play.
The No.7-ranked Illini controlled play from the beginning of Saturday evening's match in Urbana, securing the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and 3 positions before the No. 16 pair of junior Moritz Baumann and sophomore Marek Michalicka stopped the Illini sweep with a tiebreak victory 9-8(1).
Moving into singles play, No. 72 Baumann picked up Wisconsin's first point with a straight-set dismissal of No. 55 Marc Spicijaric, but the Illini recorded wins at No. 6, 5 and 4 to move up 4-1 and guarantee the meet victory.
Wisconsin eked out wins in the remaining matches from No. 41 Michalicka and freshman Patrick Pohlmann in three sets apiece to lose the meet by only one. Wisconsin moved on to Indiana Sunday afternoon and with the win, Illinois improved to 13-3 for the season and stays undefeated in their first three meets of Big Ten play.
As play heated up in Indiana, the Badgers gave up their third straight doubles point to the unranked Hoosiers (2-0 Big Ten, 9-7 overall) with losses from juniors Michael Dierberger and Michael Muskievicz at No. 2 and Baumann and Michalicka, who recorded only their second loss for the season at No. 1. Pohlmann and junior doubles partner Luke Rassow-Kantor, however, recorded a win at No. 3 with an 8-1 victory over freshmen Guy Kubi and Maxime Armengaud.
Pohlmann carried his rampage over to singles play at No. 3 and devastated Kubi again with a 6-0, 6-1 victory to pick up the Badgers first point in the meet. Baumann contributed the next with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over sophomore Lachlan Ferguson to remain undefeated, improving to 13-0. Another win from Michalicka and losses from Rassow-Kantor and Dierberger leveled the match at 3-all and a battle at No. 5 between sophomore Peter Marrack and Armengaud determined the afternoon's outcome.
Marrack came back from a first set loss, but at 4-all in the third Hoosier Armengaud wrestled away a late break to take the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and claim the meet for the young Hoosier talent 4-3.
The men have a week to recover, however, before continuing on to the Blue/Gray Classic in Montgomery Ala., on March 19.
Women's
The Wisconsin women's tennis team also took a tough blow last Wednesday with a 7-0 loss to No. 1 Northwestern that brought their recent non-conference winning streak to a screeching halt.
A deep Northwestern squad only allowed the Badgers five service games in doubles play, sweeping all three positions to take the point. In singles play, the Badgers fell to Wildcats in straight sets at all six positions.
With the loss, the women fell to 5-7 (0-1 Big Ten) but have the chance to improve their record next weekend when they host Big Ten opponents No. 36 Indiana and No. 51 Illinois at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
