Wisconsin tennis drops 6-5 tiebreaker to Middle Tennessee State

The Wisconsin men's tennis team split its weekend slate, securing a dominant home victory before losing a tight contest on the road.

Wisconsin defeated Pennsylvania 6-1 on Friday at the Nielsen Tennis Center. The Badgers had never beaten the Quakers in program history prior to this match. Senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin won the opening doubles event 6-1. Sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton followed with a 6-2 victory. Colton, Soyfer, Dodridge, and freshman Jesper Freimuth all won their singles matches in straight sets. O'Hoisin closed the match with a 7-5, 4-6, 10-2 win in the final singles spot.

The team then traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders, who are 10-2 on the season, had not lost at home and had shut out five opponents. Wisconsin took the doubles point with wins from the O'Hoisin-Dodridge pair and the Chema Carranza-Freimuth duo. Soyfer won his singles match 6-4, 6-3, extending his personal singles record to 10-0 this season.

Middle Tennessee State won the next three singles matches to take a 3-2 lead. Dodridge tied the match at 3-3 with a 7-6, 6-1 victory. The outcome rested on the final singles point between Carranza and Tom Moonen. Carranza lost the first set in a tiebreak and won the second 6-1. He led 5-4 in the third set, but Moonen recovered to win 7-5 and claim the 6-5 match for the Blue Raiders.

Head coach Danny Westerman noted the loss would aid the team's development. "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.

The Badgers are now 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten. They remain without a road win this season.

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