Wisconsin Tennis Falls to Middle Tennessee State in Deciding Set

The Wisconsin men’s tennis team finished its weekend with a split result. The Badgers defeated Pennsylvania 6-1 at home before losing to Middle Tennessee State in a closely contested third set.

Wisconsin enters the next weekend with a 6-6 overall record and a 0-1 mark in the Big Ten. The team remains without a road win this season.

On Friday, the Badgers hosted Pennsylvania at the Nielsen Tennis Center. This 6-1 victory marked the first time Wisconsin had defeated the Quakers in program history. The previous meeting between the two teams ended in a 4-3 loss for Wisconsin.

Senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin secured the doubles point with a 6-1 win. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton added a 6-2 victory in the second doubles match. In singles, Colton, Soyfer, and Dodridge all won in straight sets. Freshman Jesper Freimuth won 6-2 and 6-3. O'Hoisin closed the match with a 7-5, 4-6, 10-2 win.

Wisconsin traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Middle Tennessee State, a team with a 10-2 record that had not lost at home this season. The Badgers took the doubles point with wins from O'Hoisin and Dodridge, as well as senior Chema Carranza and Freimuth.

Soyfer won his singles match 6-4 and 6-3 to reach 10-0 in singles for the season. Middle Tennessee State then won the next three singles matches to take a 3-2 lead. Dodridge tied the match at 3-3 with a 7-6 and 6-1 victory.

The final point fell to Carranza against Tom Moonen at No. 2 singles. Carranza lost the first set in a tiebreak and won the second 6-1. In the deciding set, Carranza led 5-4 before Moonen won the final three points to take the set 7-5 and clinch the match for the Blue Raiders.

Head coach Danny Westerman told UWBadgers.com that the loss would help the team going forward. "This one stings. We need to keep working. We put ourselves in these situations so we can eventually get over the hump," Westerman said.

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