Badgers Tennis: Home Sweep of Penn, Narrow Loss in Tennessee

The Wisconsin men's tennis team finished the weekend with a mixed record of 6-6 after splitting two matches. The Badgers defeated Pennsylvania 6-1 at Nielsen Tennis Center on Friday before falling 6-5 to Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The result leaves the team 0-1 in the Big Ten and without a road win this season.

Wisconsin had never defeated Pennsylvania in program history. The previous meeting ended in a 4-3 loss for the Badgers. Friday’s match marked the first time Wisconsin beat the Quakers. The Badgers secured the doubles point, with senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin winning 6-1. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton followed with a 6-2 victory.

Wisconsin won four of five singles matches in the home contest. Colton, Soyfer, Dodridge, and freshman Jesper Freimuth all won in straight sets. Freimuth won 6-2, 6-3. O'Hoisin required three sets, finishing 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.

The team traveled to Middle Tennessee State, which had not lost at home and had shut out five opponents. Wisconsin took the doubles point. O'Hoisin and Dodridge defeated Chris Edge and Tom Moonen 6-4. Senior Chema Carranza and Freimuth beat Glan Issa and Jan Porteset 6-2. Soyfer won his singles match 6-4, 6-3 to reach 10-0 in singles this season.

Middle Tennessee State won the next three singles matches to lead 3-2. Dodridge tied the match at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win. The final point came down to Carranza and Moonen. Carranza lost the first set 7-6, then won the second 6-1. He led the third set 5-4 before Moonen closed it out 7-5.

Head coach Danny Westerman said the loss stings but will help the team improve. He told UWBadgers.com, "We need to keep working. We put ourselves in these situations so we can eventually get over the hump."

Wisconsin returns to Nielsen Tennis Center next weekend for a Sunday doubleheader against Cornell and UW-Green Bay.