Wisconsin men's tennis beats Penn at home, falls to Middle Tennessee State in a decisive third set
The Badgers moved to 6-6 after a 6-1 win over Pennsylvania in Madison and a narrow loss at Middle Tennessee State, leaving them still looking for a first road win.
By Ama Boateng ·
The Wisconsin men's tennis team split its two matches over the weekend. It beat Pennsylvania at home, then lost a close match at Middle Tennessee State. The Badgers are 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten, and they are still without a road win this season.
On Friday afternoon, Wisconsin hosted Pennsylvania (4-7) at Nielsen Tennis Center. The Badgers had never beaten the Quakers in program history, and last year's meeting ended in a 4-3 loss. This time they won 6-1.
Wisconsin took the doubles point first. The No. 1 pair of senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin won 6-1 and remain unbeaten as a duo this season. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a 6-2 win.
The Badgers then won all but one singles match. Colton, Soyfer and Dodridge each won in straight sets, as did freshman Jesper Freimuth, 6-2, 6-3. O'Hoisin needed three sets and won 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.
Wisconsin then traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Middle Tennessee State (10-2). The Blue Raiders had not lost at home this season and had already shut out five opponents.
The Badgers started well. 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 to 10-0 in singles this season.
Middle Tennessee State then won the next three singles matches to lead 3-2. Dodridge tied the match at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win, which left the result to Carranza and Moonen at No. 2 singles.
Carranza lost the first set in a 7-6 tiebreak, then won the second 6-1. In the third he led 5-4, but Moonen came back to win it 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. "This one stings. We need to keep working. We put ourselves in these situations so we can eventually get over the hump," he told UWBadgers.com.
Wisconsin returns to Nielsen Tennis Center next weekend for a Sunday doubleheader against Cornell and UW-Green Bay.
Source: The Daily Cardinal
