The Wisconsin men’s tennis team improved its record to 2-0 Wednesday with a 4-3 win over DePaul (2-2) at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Leading the way for UW was its highly touted top doubles tandem of junior Alex Kasarov and senior co-captain David Hippee. The duo took care of DePaul’s pairing of Mark Henderson and Sam Davidson in an 8-6 match. Hippee and Kasarov are currently ranked eighth in the nation by the ITA.
Senior co-captain Scott Green and sophomore Alex Conti continued UW’s success in the doubles department. The team recorded a 9-7 victory over Eric Huffman and Radek Guzik of DePaul.
The UW team of sophomore Ward Bortz and freshman Lachezar Kasarov were narrowly defeated in a tie-breaker decision by the Blue Demon duo of Robert Kotroczo and George Wang. Kotroczo and Wang picked up the victory 9-8 (4).
On the singles side of play, Wisconsin’s No. 1 seeded player Kasarov stayed hot by beating Henderson in a 6-3, 7-5 decision. His partner Hippee kept UW rolling with a 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (6) tie-breaker victory over Kotroczo in the matchup of No. 2 seeds.
Also bringing home a win for the Wisconsin squad was Green, who made quick work of Guzik. The senior from Appleton, Wis., defeated his Blue Devil opponent 6-1, 6-2. The Kasarov family was not done winning either, as Alex’s younger brother Lachezar defeated Huffman by a tally of 6-4, 6-4.
Bortz had no better luck in singles play than in doubles. Despite battling back from a 0-4 deficit to take the first set 7-5, the sophomore was eventually finished off by DePaul’s Davidson. Bortz lost by a final tally of 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Also dropping a match for UW was Conti, who fell to Wang by the score of 6-3, 6-3.
Wisconsin concludes their home stand at Nielsen Tennis Stadium Sunday, Feb. 8, when it faces No. 62 Ball State (2-2). First serve is set for 11 a.m. and the match is free and open to the public.
-compiled from staff reports
