Wisconsin Splits Weekend Matches, Still Seeking First Road Win
The Badgers beat Penn at home before dropping a tight road match to Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro.
By Lorenzo Patterson ·
Wisconsin men's tennis split two weekend matches, beating Pennsylvania at home before falling on the road to Middle Tennessee State. The Badgers are now 6-6 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten, and still without a road win this season.
Friday's home match at the Nielsen Tennis Center marked the first time Wisconsin had beaten Pennsylvania in program history. Last year's meeting ended 4-3 in favor of the Quakers; this time the Badgers won 6-1. Wisconsin took the doubles point, with the No. 1 pair of senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin winning 6-1 to stay unbeaten as a duo this season. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a 6-2 win.
The Badgers then won five of six singles matches. Colton, Soyfer, Dodridge and freshman Jesper Freimuth each won in straight sets, with Freimuth taking his match 6-2, 6-3. O'Hoisin needed three sets, winning 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.
Wisconsin then traveled to Murfreesboro to face a Middle Tennessee State team that entered the match 10-2 and unbeaten at home this season, with five shutouts already on its record. The Badgers took the doubles point after O'Hoisin and Dodridge beat Chris Edge and Tom Moonen 6-4, and senior Chema Carranza and Freimuth beat Glan Issa and Jan Porteset 6-2. Soyfer won his singles match 6-4, 6-3 to move to 10-0 in singles this season.
Middle Tennessee State won the next three singles matches to lead 3-2. Dodridge tied it at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win, leaving the outcome to the No. 2 singles match between Carranza and Tom Moonen. Carranza dropped the first set in a tiebreak, won the second 6-1, and led 5-4 in the third before Moonen took the final three games to win 7-5 and clinch the match for the Blue Raiders.
Head coach Danny Westerman told UWBadgers.com the loss was hard on the team. "This one stings. We need to keep working. We put ourselves in these situations so we can eventually get over the hump," he said. Wisconsin returns to the Nielsen Tennis Center next weekend for a Sunday doubleheader against Cornell and UW-Green Bay.
Source: The Daily Cardinal
