Badgers Split Weekend Tennis Results

The Wisconsin men's tennis team finished its two-match weekend with a mixed result. The Badgers secured a decisive victory over Pennsylvania at home before traveling to Tennessee, where they lost a closely contested final match against Middle Tennessee State.

The team now sits at a 6-6 overall record. They are 0-1 in Big Ten play and have yet to secure a road win this season. The loss on Saturday kept them without a victory away from Nielsen Tennis Center.

On Friday, Wisconsin hosted the University of Pennsylvania, a program it had never beaten in history. Last year's meeting ended in a 4-3 loss for the Badgers. This time, Wisconsin dominated the match, taking the final score of 6-1. The Badgers took the early lead in doubles. The No. 1 pair of senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin won 6-1. They remain unbeaten as a duo this season. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a second doubles point with a 6-2 win.

Wisconsin won all but one singles match in that contest. Colton, Soyfer, and Dodridge each won in straight sets. Freshman Jesper Freimuth also won in two sets with a 6-2, 6-3 score. O'Hoisin required a third set to close out the match. He won 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.

The team then traveled to Murfreesboro to face Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders entered the match with a 10-2 record. They had not lost at home this season and had already shut out five opponents. Wisconsin started strong. O'Hoisin and Dodridge beat Chris Edge and Tom Moonen 6-4 in doubles. Senior Chema Carranza and Freimuth then beat Glan Issa and Jan Porteset 6-2 to give Wisconsin the doubles point.

In singles, Soyfer won 6-4, 6-3 to improve his individual record to 10-0 for the season. Middle Tennessee State then won the next three singles matches to take a 3-2 lead. Dodridge tied the match at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win. This left the result to be decided in the final singles match between Carranza and Moonen.

Carranza lost the first set in a 7-6 tiebreak. He won the second set 6-1. In the third set, he led 5-4. Moonen came back to win that set 7-5 and clinch the match for the Blue Raiders. Head coach Danny Westerman said the loss was hard on the team but should help it going forward. He told UWBadgers.com that the team needs to keep working to eventually get over the hump. Wisconsin returns to Nielsen Tennis Center next weekend for a Sunday doubleheader against Cornell and UW-Green Bay.