The Wisconsin men’s tennis team (1-1) kicked off its season this weekend by hosting the Northern Illinois Huskies and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Badgers defeated the Huskies by a 5-2 score Friday night, but they were unable to knock off the Fighting Irish despite taking the doubles point early, falling by a 6-1 margin.
Wisconsin got off to a hot start Friday by winning all three doubles matches and taking home the first point.
The No. 1 doubles combination of brothers Alex and Lachezar Kasarov sailed to an 8-4 victory over Willy Gali and Alex Friesen.
Clinching the doubles point for Wisconsin was the No. 3 duo of freshman Elliot Bisnow and junior Steve Guntly. The tandem knocked off Adam Ford and Diego Zegarra-Ballon in a tiebreaker 8-7 (4).
The No. 2 combination of juniors Jordan Raemisch and Mark Weinig also won, cruising to an 8-4 victory over Northern Illinois’ Erick Martinez and Mark Tate.
Winning the doubles point set the tone for the rest of the night.
“Obviously the doubles point is always important,” said head coach Pat Klingelhoets. “I was expecting us to be a little tight out there, which we were. It was nice to see our guys hang in there and battle back and get those matches.”
The Badgers continued their good play by winning four of the six singles matches. Wisconsin was led by their freshman trio of Bisnow, Felipe Bellido and Brian Ko, all of whom won their singles matches.
Bellido got the ball rolling at the No. 5 singles spot, beating Adam Ford by a 6-3, 6-0 score.
The freshman from Peru felt good about getting his first win of the season.
“It was really important to gain some confidence,” said Bellido. “I was really playing back on the lines. I think a win is a win.”
Fellow freshman Bisnow, at No. 3, continued the winning by defeating Mark Tate 6-3, 6-2.
The Washington, D.C., native was pleased to get the first match of the season started on the right note.
“It felt good,” said Bisnow. “I was a little nervous at the start, and [Northern] is a good team. Our team is very vocal, and people were yelling, and it got me fired up. It just felt great.”
Clinching the victory for the Badgers was freshman walk-on Brian Ko, who at No. 6 dominated Diego Zegarra-Ballon 6-1, 6-2.
The Badgers also got a victory from junior Jordan Raemisch at the four spot. Raemisch knocked off Alex Friesen 6-3, 7-5.
At No. 1, senior captain Alex Kasarov was defeated by Willy Gali 6-4, 6-4.
Also coming up short was Weinig at No. 2. Weinig lost a marathon match to Erick Martinez 6-7, 7-6 1-0 (5).
Overall, Klingelhoets was very happy with the performance of his team in the first match of the season.
“It was a great first match for us,” said Klingelhoets. “Northern Illinois, I think they played pretty well in spots. I was impressed. Their doubles, they came out ready to play, and singles in spots they played very well, too. Overall, a good first match for us.”
Things did not go quite as well Sunday afternoon. Wisconsin fell 6-1 to Notre Dame.
The Badgers came out strong early, scratching and clawing their way to two victories in doubles and earning the point. However Wisconsin was unsuccessful in all of its singles matches.
Notre Dame was able to win the first of the doubles matches at No. 2. The Irish duo of Eric Langenkamp and Sheeva Parbhu beat the freshman duo of Bisnow and Jeremy Sonkin 8-6.
The Badgers battled back and won at No. 3 as Raemisch and Weinig beat Barry King and Stephen Bass 8-6, putting the spotlight on the brothers Kasarov at No. 1.
And the Kasarovs were able to come through, winning a dramatic game by tiebreaker 9-8 (8-6).
“[Our match] was very important actually because the other two matches were finished, and obviously we split that, and we knew it was up to us to win the doubles point,” said Alex Kasarov. “We needed to step up — me and my brother — and get it done, so that’s what we did.”
It all was downhill from there, though. Wisconsin was unable to capture another point on the day.
At No. 1 singles, Kasarov fell to Stephen Bass 7-5, 6-2, while Sonkin lost to Barry King 7-5, 6-2 at the No. 2 spot. Brent D’Amico of the Irish defeated No. 3 Weinig 6-1, 6-2, and Bisnow was unable to keep his record perfect on the season as he lost to Sheeva Parbhu 6-2, 6-2.
Bellido was outmatched at the No. 5 singles spot, falling to Irackli Akhvlediani, 6-2, 6-0.
Despite enjoying a healthy cheering section, Ko couldn’t muster a victory over Patrick Buchanan at No. 6 singles. The fan favorite fell in two sets 6-2, 6-3.
Coach Klingelhoets was happy to see the team pull out the doubles point, but was a little disappointed in the effort shown by some.
“It was a great doubles point,” said Klingelhoets. “The guys did a great job to pull that out. It is great to get that point because it makes you feel like you have a good chance to win the match, especially against a team like Notre Dame. Give them credit, they played extremely well. But on the other hand, we were a little disappointed in a few of our guys that just didn’t come out with enough intensity and aggressiveness.”
