Wisconsin Tennis Splits Weekend: 6-1 Win Over Penn, Narrow Loss in Tennessee

The University of Wisconsin men's tennis team finished the weekend with a 1-1 record, posting a dominant home victory over Pennsylvania before suffering a close defeat at Middle Tennessee State. The Badgers are now 6-6 overall and remain 0-1 in Big Ten play, extending their season-long struggle to win on the road.

Wisconsin broke through a historical barrier on Friday by defeating Pennsylvania 6-1 at Nielsen Tennis Center. The Badgers had never beaten the Quakers in program history, with last year's meeting ending in a 4-3 loss. The No. 1 doubles team of senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin secured the opening point with a 6-1 win, extending their unbeaten streak as a pair. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a second doubles win, 6-2.

In singles, Wisconsin won four of five matches. Colton, Soyfer, and Dodridge each won in straight sets, as did freshman Jesper Freimuth, who took the match 6-2, 6-3. O'Hoisin required three sets to finish the job, winning 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.

The team traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Middle Tennessee State, which entered the match at 10-2 and undefeated at home. Wisconsin secured the doubles point, with O'Hoisin and Dodridge beating Chris Edge and Tom Moonen 6-4, followed by a 6-2 win for senior Chema Carranza and Freimuth over Glan Issa and Jan Porteset. Soyfer won his singles match 6-4, 6-3 to reach 10-0 in singles for the season.

Middle Tennessee State took control of the match with three consecutive singles victories to lead 3-2. Dodridge tied the score at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 win, setting up the final point for Carranza against Moonen. Carranza lost the first set in a 7-6 tiebreak but won the second 6-1. In the decisive third set, Carranza led 5-4 before Moonen rallied to take the set 7-5 and the match for the Blue Raiders.

Head coach Danny Westerman acknowledged the difficulty of the loss. "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.