The Wisconsin men’s tennis ( 5-6 Big Ten, 13-11 overall) team finished out the regular season with a pair of Big Ten road matches this weekend.
On Friday, the Badgers took on a high-powered Illinois squad that ranked eighth in the country. The team got off to a promising start by taking the doubles point. Seniors Chema Carranza and Josef Dodridge continued their season-long dominance by taking their match 6-3. The pair of sophomore Daniel Soyfer and junior Osgar O’Hoisin sealed the point in thrilling fashion, coming back from a 5-3 deficit to win the tiebreaker 7-6 (10-8).
The team’s success was short-lived however, as the Cardinal and White would drop five of the six singles matches leading to a 5-2 defeat. Freshman Robert Krill put in an admirable effort and was the lone Badger who emerged victorious in singles. He pulled off a hard-fought three-set triumph over Illinois’s Caleb Chakravarthi, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
After a day off on Saturday, the team headed north for a matchup with Northwestern (4-7, 9-16).
As per usual, Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead thanks to their victory in doubles. Playing in their final regular-season match together, the No. 7 ranked pair in the country of Carranza and Dodridge delivered a clutch 7-6 decision to put the Badgers on the board.
Wisconsin then made quick work of the Wildcats in singles, with Carranza, Krill, O’Hoisin and Soyfer winning their matches to give the Badgers a 5-2 victory heading into the conference tournament.
“I was very proud of the fight and grit we showed. It was a perfect way to end the regular season,” head coach Danny Westerman told UWBadgers.com. “We look forward to carrying this momentum straight into the Big Ten tournament.”
Wisconsin will be the No. 6 seed in the tournament, which will take place at the University of Iowa. In its first match on Thursday, it will meet the No. 11 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers.
