As this year’s men’s tennis team prepares for coach Pat Klingelhoet’s 21st season at UW as head coach, expectations are high. The team is, on average, one of the youngest teams coached by Klingelhoet in his years at UW and in the school’s 82-year history of tennis. With seven freshmen and a single senior, the average age on the team is just over 19. Although the team is rather short in the tooth, it still has some bite coming from its leaders.
The top returning players include senior Blake Baratz, junior David Hippee, and red-shirt sophomore Alexander Kasarov. Also looking to have another breakthrough season is junior Scott Green, who is the team’s top returning doubles winner with 18.
“Scott made some of the greatest improvement in an eight-week period that I’ve witnessed since being at Wisconsin,” coach Klingelhoet said.
The weight of the squad, however, is placed largely on Hippie and Kasarov, who were both selected to the pre-qualifying singles round of the 2002 Icy Hot/ITA Men’s All-American Championship. In addition to that, the pair was also selected to take part in the pre-qualifying doubles round of the All-American Championship.
The last matches the team played were the Big Ten Men’s Singles Championships back in November. The team as a whole gave a pretty strong showing in singles play with four out of eight advancing to second-round competition.
Junior David Hippee competed in the Top 1-6 round of 16 after big wins against Joel Cunney (OSU) and Mark Barry (PSU). Manuel Lievano (MN) eventually defeated Hippee 6-1, 6-4, thus ending last season’s run at the Big Ten title.
This Friday, Jan. 24, the team will begin its 2003 dual season by facing Illinois at home. Matches begin at 6 p.m. at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
