The No.29 University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s tennis team (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) took a short road trip from Ann Arbor, MI to East Lansing, MI to take on conference opponent Michigan State (5-7, 2-0) and unfortunately couldn’t come out with the win against the unranked Spartans.

The Badgers suffered the loss at the hands of Michigan State by a final score of 5-2 March 8. The loss snapped an impressive nine-game winning streak that the Badgers had enjoyed since a win against Chicago State on January 23.

Coming off of an imposing 4-0 win against the No.52 Michigan Wolverines March 6, the Badgers looked to stretch their win streak to double digits against the Wolverines’ in-state rival. Unfortunately for the Badgers, that didn’t happen on Sunday.

Wisconsin quickly fell behind 1-0 as their No.2 doubles pairing Tomas Zlatohlavek and Edouard Aubert dropped their match 6-3 to Michigan State’s Forbes and Baris and their No.3 doubles pairing Matthew Fullerton and Patrik Meszaros dropped theirs to Thanos and Sheldon by the score of 6-4.

Michigan State secured the doubles point before the No.1 pairing of both teams could complete their match. The bout between Ferdinand Kloesters and Michael Minasyan of Wisconsin and Alazmeh and Rakhmatullayev of Michigan State was at a 4-4 stalemate when it was abandoned.

The two highest singles positions proved no different from doubles, as both of the Badgers’ top players, Minasyan and Meszaros, were edged out in straight sets.

No.4 Kloesters also dropped his singles match in straight sets, but the day didn’t end without a couple wins for a Wisconsin squad that came into the day red-hot. Sachiv Kumar dominated his contest, winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 at the No.6 spot in his return to his home state of Michigan.

Aubert secured the second point on the day for the Badgers, defeating his opponent 1-6, 7-6, 10-8 in a highly contested 3-set match. That would be the final point for Wisconsin, however, as Zlatohlavek fell to his challenger despite forcing a deciding third set.