The Wisconsin men’s tennis team (1-0) defeated Northern Illinois 5-2 in Friday’s dual season opener at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The Badgers won all three doubles matches and took four of six singles matches on their way to the victory.
Leading the way for UW in doubles action was the top-seeded tandem of senior co-captain David Hippee and junior Alex Kasarov. Wisconsin’s duo defeated the Huskies’ top pair, Juan-Pablo Barriga and Erick Martinez, 8-6. Hippee and Kasarov are also currently the eighth-ranked doubles team in the country.
UW continued its doubles dominance in the match’s other two face-offs. Wisconsin’s No. 2-seeded team, sophomore Alex Conti and senior co-captain Scott Green, out-dueled NIU’s tandem of Willy Gali and Aaron Forsberg 8-3. The Badgers’ underclassman team of sophomore Ward Bortz and freshman Lachezar Kasarov took down Jack Komar and Stephan Guntly to the tune of 8-4.
On the singles side of play, Hippee defeated Martinez 7-6 (10), 6-1, while Green defeated Forsberg 6-4, 6-0. Also picking up points for Wisconsin were Kasarov, who fought back to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 against the Huskies’ Guntly, and Bortz, who made quick work of Komar, winning 6-3, 6-3.
Wisconsin’s two losses came as UW’s top seed, Alex Kasarov, fell 5-7, 3-6 to Northern Illinois’ Willy Gali, while Conti dropped to Barriga 6-7 (3), 2-6, 2-6.
The Badgers will next host DePaul on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. First serve is set for 4 p.m.
-compiled from staff reports