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UW men's tennis team wins in NCAA 1st round
LOS ANGELES -- The Wisconsin men's tennis team rallied to beat Washington 4-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Division I men's tennis championships at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The victory marks the second year in a row that the Badgers topped the Huskies to advance to the second round. Last year, Wisconsin won 4-3 to move to the second round for the first time in school history.
"It was just another signature win for the guys," head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. "It was a total team effort, one through six."
The win was especially nice for Van Emburgh as Saturday was his birthday.
"I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present," he said.
Wisconsin, 18-9 and ranked No. 33 in the nation, had to dig out of an early hole though as No. 33 Washington (14-10) swept all three doubles matches.
At No. 1 doubles, Washington's Patrik Fischer and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat the Badgers' Nolan Polley and sophomore Moritz Baumann, ending their five-match winning streak.
The clinching doubles point came with Washington's win at No. 3 doubles, when Martin Kildahl and Tobi Obenaous beat Jeremy Sonkin and Marek Michalicka, 8-2. The No. 2 doubles match between the Badgers' Michael Dierberger and Luke Rassow-Kantor and Washington's Derek Drabble and Andy Kuharsky was suspended with the Huskies duo leading because the doubles point had already been decided.
"The guys came out a little flat in doubles, but we met, and they really came together after that," Van Emburgh said.
Wisconsin was able to rally from the deficit by winning four straight singles matches.
At No. 6 singles, the Badgers' Felipe Bellido beat Kildahl, 6-4, 6-3. That was followed by a victory in No. 1 singles by the Badgers' Baumann, who defeated Fischer 6-4, 6-4. At No. 4 singles, the Badgers' Sonkin beat Drabble 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Michalicka, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, got the deciding victory for the Badgers at No. 3 singles, beating Kuharsky 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The Badgers return to action at 3 p.m. Sunday for a second-round match against third-seeded UCLA (22-1), which whipped Eastern Washington 4-0. Match time is set for 3 p.m. CDT.
