The Badger men’s tennis team returns to action at 2 p.m. this afternoon at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium after being on the road for over a month. The team last competed at home when they took on the Northwestern Wildcats during the last weekend of February.
Wisconsin looks to get back on the winning track after falling to the 72nd-ranked Indiana Hoosiers over this past weekend. They are hoping a return home will be just what they need to get back on the right track. But the road does not get any easier with the Louisville Cardinals coming to town.
The Cardinals are currently ranked 46th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Louisville is fresh off a dominating win over No. 58 Western Michigan University. The Cardinals dropped only the No. 1 singles match, sweeping the rest, including all of the doubles matches.
Louisville will provide quite the challenge for Wisconsin, especially in doubles, where the Badgers have enjoyed a majority of their recent success. The Badger duo of senior David Hippee and junior Alex Kasarov have begun to climb their way back up the rankings, up to the 33rd spot in the most recent rankings, after falling from their pre-season perch at No. 8. However, they will face a similarly rated foe in the Louisville twosome of senior Matt Mayer and sophomore Jeremy Clark.
Clark and Mayer are the 27th-ranked duo in the country, according to the ITA. This match-up at the top doubles position could very well determine who is able to capture the doubles point, and gain the early lead in the match.
Wisconsin will also try to achieve more success on the singles side of things. Senior Scott Green was the only one to pull out a win against Indiana, as he beat Ryan Recht in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
The Badgers will attempt to become the first non-ranked team to knock off the Cardinals this year. All seven of their losses have come at the hands of ranked opponents. The lowest-rated opponent who was able to defeat Louisville this season was Middle Tennessee State, who was ranked 65th at the time of their win.
Louisville looks to add their 15th win of the season to their 14-7 record, while Wisconsin tries to inch back toward even before they delve into the heart of the Big Ten season. At 5-7, notching the sixth win may prove to be a difficult task, though.
And it does not get any easier for the Badgers after Louisville. The defending national champion and first-ranked Fighting Illini of Illinois come to town on Saturday, followed by the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday.
