Badgers drop final pair

by Brent Neevel, Tennis Writer

The Wisconsin men’s tennis team returned home this weekend to face a pair of foes from the state of Michigan to close out the regular season.

The team was unable to find much success at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, though.

The men lost to the No. 57-ranked Michigan State Spartans Saturday before falling to the No. 54-ranked Michigan Wolverines Sunday.

Michigan State came into this weekend’s play with a 14-12 overall record and a 1-7 record in the Big Ten. The Badgers took the Spartans to the wire before falling 4-3. Wisconsin struggles as a team if they are unable to capture the doubles point, and the Spartans prevented them from being able to take home the point.

The No. 3 doubles team, comprised of sophomores Ward Bortz and Mark Weinig, was the only duo able to win in doubles for Wisconsin. Bortz and Weinig defeated Mike Brown and Michael Flowers by an 8-5 margin.

Wisconsin’s No. 42-ranked top pairing of senior David Hippee and junior Alex Kasarov was not able to take out the Spartans’ top pair of Andrew Formanczyk and Chris Mitchell. The duo dropped the match 8-5.

The Badgers’ No. 2 team of senior Scott Green and freshman Peter Amundson also fell by an 8-5 score to Cameron Marshall and Eric Simonton.

Wisconsin faired much better in singles, as the men were able to achieve victory in three of their six matches.

David Hippee led the Badgers at No. 3 by notching a 4-6, 6-4, (13-11) decision over the Spartans’ Chris Mitchell. Ward Bortz and Mark Weinig also tallied victories for the team. Bortz beat Simonton 6-3, 6-3, and Weinig won 7-5, 6-3 over Joe McWilliams.

The rest of the singles players were not as fortunate. Kasarov fell to No. 81-ranked Formanczyk 6-1, 3-6, 2-6; Green lost to Marshall 1-6, 6-4, 2-6; and Amundson dropped his match to Flowers 4-6, 3-6.

In the team’s matchup with Michigan Sunday, the Wolverines were able to defeat Wisconsin 6-1 to improve their record to 13-8 and 4-6 in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin got off to a good start as they captured the doubles point. Green and Amundson knocked off Michigan’s No. 2 doubles team of Anthony Jackson and Vineeth Gossain, 8-5. The Badgers also had success in No. 3 doubles play, as Bortz and Weinig were able to win a closely contested match, 9-8 (4), over David Anving and Josef Fischer of Michigan.

As for David Hippee and Alex Kasarov, they continued to struggle at No. 1. The No. 42-ranked pair fell Sunday to Brian Hung and Ryan Heller, 6-8.

Wisconsin had quite a bit of trouble in singles, and the team could not build off the doubles victory. The Wisconsin men dropped all six singles matches to the Wolverines.

Alex Kasarov continued his season-long trend of marathon matches but could not come out on top in the end. Jackson defeated Kasarov 7-5, 3-6, 3-6. Ward Bortz also took his opponent to three sets, before succumbing to David Anving, 6-3, 2-6, 4-6.

Senior co-captains David Hippee and Scott Green finished out their home careers losing close matches. Hippee fell to Heller 6-7 (4), 4-6, while Green fell to Hung 6-7 (3), 1-6.

Mark Weinig also lost a closely contested match to Steve Peretz, 6-7 (5), 5-7. And Peter Amundson dropped his match to Fischer, 4-6, 1-6.

Wisconsin resumes play again Thursday when the team travels to East Lansing for the 2004 Big Ten Team Championships.