In dominating fashion, the Wisconsin men’s tennis team (3-4, 0-1 Big Ten) defeated Butler University (4-9, 0-0 Horizon League) with a convincing 6-1 score Saturday afternoon. The Badgers enjoyed a quick start by sweeping all three doubles matches for the early point, and were awarded five of six singles victories.

The freshmen duo of Jeremy Sonkin and Elliot Bisnow took the No. 3 doubles match over Butler’s Mike Weaver and Tony Aker 8-6. The No. 2 doubles tandem of juniors Mark Weinig and Jordan Raemisch improved their record to 7-3 after they came back from 6-5 down to win 8-6 over James Low and Parker Ross, securing the doubles point.

“[The match] started out pretty bad,” Weinig said. “Neither of us was playing well until late in the match, then we picked it up and played tough and got the win.”

Completing the sweep for the Badgers was the No.1 doubles team of brothers Alex and Lachezar Kasarov, who defeated Andy Bartish and Eric Breitenbach 8-7(3).

The doubles sweep provided an extra spark for the Badgers heading into the singles competition and was a vast improvement following last weekend’s grim doubles performance when the Badgers won just one of six against No. 39 Northwestern and Ball State.

“This was a much needed win for us following last weekend on the road,” head coach Pat Klingelhoets said. “Butler is a good team, and they played really well, especially in doubles — we were lucky to get that point.”

The No. 5 singles match saw Wisconsin freshman Felipe Bellido move to 9-8 on the season following his impressive triumph over freshman Eric Breitenbach in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. The win marks a three-game win streak for the young Peruvian and established the first Badger shutout of the season.

Senior Alex Kasarov showed once again why he is competing at the No. 1 singles position with his decisive win over Butler’s James Low 6-1, 6-4. The victory ended Low’s four-match singles win streak and gave the Badgers a commanding 3-0 lead in the match. The match also marked Kasarov’s fourth win in five matches.

Alex’s younger brother, sophomore Lachezar, clinched the match for the Badgers with his No. 3 singles victory over Butler junior Parker Ross 6-4, 6-4. The win ended a two-match losing streak for the younger Kasarov and gave Wisconsin its third win of the spring season for a 3-4 overall record.

Following the clinched victory, Wisconsin’s rising star, Jeremy Sonkin, put on a show for the crowd in the No. 2 singles match with an exciting win over junior Andy Bartish. Sonkin improved his record to 13-8 while ending Bartish’s three-match singles win streak. The 6-3, 7-6(5) decision advanced Sonkin’s singles win streak to five matches.

“Today was tough because I had the pressure of knowing that I was favored going into the match,” Sonkin said. “Overall, [Bartish] played really well, and at times during the match, I found myself flat-footed out [on the court]. In the end, I just didn’t make as many unforced errors as [Bartish] did.”

Butler salvaged their only point of the match when sophomore Evan West defeated freshman Elliott Bisnow 7-6(4), 6-3 in the No. 4 singles match.

Closing out the match in No. 6 singles, Wisconsin freshman Brian Ko earned an emotional 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 comeback win over Butler senior Mike Weaver. After dropping a close first set, the Teaneck, N.J. native fought back and overcame the more experienced player to break a three-game losing streak and earned his ninth win of the season.

Coach Klingelhoets was impressed with the play of all the freshmen who stepped up in the match and praised their strong play.

“The freshmen are really playing solid now,” Klingelhoets said. “Brian (Ko) played better today, and Jeremy (Sonkin) and Felipe (Bellido) have been playing great; there has been a lot of improvement in all their games.”