Wisconsin Tennis: Home Win, Road Heartbreak

For fans following the Wisconsin men's tennis team, the weekend brought a mix of satisfaction and frustration. The squad secured a commanding victory in front of a home crowd, but the trip to Tennessee ended in a narrow defeat. This split leaves the team with a 6-6 record for the season and no road victories to date, while their conference standing stands at 0-1.

The action began on Friday at the Nielsen Tennis Center, where Wisconsin hosted Pennsylvania. This matchup held historical weight, as the Badgers had never defeated the Quakers in program history and had lost their previous meeting 4-3. On this occasion, however, Wisconsin took control early by securing the doubles point. The top pairing of Josef Dodridge and Osgar O'Hoisin won 6-1 to stay unbeaten as a team, while Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a 6-2 victory.

Wisconsin continued that momentum into the singles rounds. Chase Colton, Daniel Soyfer, and Josef Dodridge all won their matches in straight sets. Freshman Jesper Freimuth also secured a straight-set win with scores of 6-2, 6-3. Osgar O'Hoisin required a third set to finish his match, eventually winning 7-5, 4-6, 10-2. The final score of 6-1 marked the program's first-ever win over Pennsylvania.

The team then traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Middle Tennessee State, a squad holding a 10-2 record with an undefeated home record. Wisconsin started strong by taking the doubles point after O'Hoisin and Dodridge won 6-4, followed by a 6-2 win for Chema Carranza and Jesper Freimuth. In singles, Daniel Soyfer improved to 10-0 for the season with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Middle Tennessee State rallied to win the next three singles matches, taking a 3-2 lead. Wisconsin tied the score when Dodridge won 7-6, 6-1, sending the outcome to the No. 2 singles match between Chema Carranza and Tom Moonen. Carranza lost the first set in a tiebreak but won the second 6-1. He held a 5-4 lead in the third, but Moonen came back to win 7-5 and clinch the match for the Blue Raiders.

Head coach Danny Westerman acknowledged the difficulty of the result while looking at the broader picture. "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.