While the weather was freezing the past few months, the Wisconsin men’s tennis team started off its season hot, going 10-2 in its first 12 meets. But last week, while many students ventured to warmer regions, it was the tennis team that went, not cold, but freezing, getting demolished in five meets.
The Badgers (1-3 Big Ten, 10-7 overall) left the sanctuary of Nielsen Tennis Stadium for the first time this season March 23 and headed to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face a dangerous Michigan squad (4-1, 9-7).
The Badgers started off strong, capturing the doubles point, but things went downhill quickly from there for UW as the No. 31 Wolverines feasted on the Badgers, taking every singles match without dropping a set. Even the once-invincible senior Alexander Kostanov could not muster a victory, giving him his first singles loss of the season.
With one day to recover from the Michigan loss, the Badgers traveled to East Lansing, Mich., hoping to right themselves against No. 53 Michigan State (2-3, 8-10). Instead, they got swept. Wisconsin’s singles team continued to struggle, with senior Billy Bertha the only one to win a set, and the normally strong doubles squad dropped its point for only the third time this season.
Looking for some warmth, the Badgers headed south to Raleigh, N.C., to face No. 38 North Carolina State (5-1 ACC, 12-6). Unfortunately, it was clearly not warm enough in North Carolina for the Badgers, as they once again could not pick up a match. The Badgers did show a little more life in this sweep, as they had some very close matches in singles, but no one could break through and earn a point, including the doubles group, which again could not salvage a point.
The Badgers ended their first road trip of the season unsuccessfully and returned home to face a strong No. 19 Illinois team (4-1, 11-7), hoping to send their conference record back to .500. The friendly confines of Nielsen inspired the Badgers to turn around their recent doubles funk and earn their first point in their last 14 chances. However, the Badgers could not end their singles drought against the Fighting Illini, losing all six of the matches again and finally giving Illinois something to cheer about. Kostanov almost broke through, splitting the first two sets in his match and playing a fierce tie-breaker in the third that resulted in a heartbreaking 9-11 loss.
Fully immersed in the Big Ten season, the Badgers looked to bounce back against another familiar foe in No. 26 Northwestern (17-5, 3-2) last weekend. The Badgers started off strongly once again, winning the doubles point. However, the trend in singles continued as UW lost the match overall, 2-5, losing five of the six singles matches. Although most Badgers struggled against Northwestern, freshman Jakhongir Jalalov gave UW something to build on by winning the first singles match in their last thirty singles matches, ending the day with his 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The Big Ten boasts many strong teams this year, and the No. 70 Badgers will face another as they head to Columbus, Ohio Friday to attempt to pull off a monumental upset against No. 7 Ohio State (5-0, 20-2).
