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The No. 38 University of Wisconsin men’s tennis team was edged out 4-3 on Sunday as it battled No. 42 Louisville in a home match at Nielson Tennis Stadium.

The Badgers started hot in the doubles section of the match, with all three doubles teams winning their matches.

No. 1 doubles team of Moritz Baumann and Marek Michalicka were tight with the Cardinal duo of Simon and Austen Childs at 4-4, but the Badgers took control and won the next four games to take the set.

Michael Muskievicz and Michael Dierberger defeated the pair of Robert Rotaru and Alejandro Calligari 8-5 to seal the doubles point, and Luke Rassow-Kantor and Patrick Pohlmann won a spirited match 8-3, as the two pumped their fists and yelled loudly while they took down Robert Hall and Viktor Maksimcuk.

After dominating doubles play, many of the Badgers came out to poor starts in singles, as four of the six singles lost their first set, shifting much of the momentum over to the Louisville team and away from Wisconsin.

“[Louisville] got off to some good starts in the singles,” assistant coach Evan Austin said. “We were able to regain the momentum and get it back to even; and then from there, it was a dead even match, and it came down to one set. But I think we just have to come out with a little more sense of urgency and keep some of those matches a little close and maybe it ends up being 4-3 our way.”

Dierberger couldn’t recover from a rough start, falling 4-6, 3-6 to Calligari in No. 6 singles. Sophomore Peter Marrack was defeated by Hall 4-6, 2-6 in No. 5 singles and Rassow-Kantor also lost 1-6, 1-6 in No. 3 singles to Maksimcuk, leaving the Badgers down 3-1.

Not all of the Badgers were struggling, though.

Freshman Patrick Pohlmann was in top form and fired up. After Pohlmann and Rassow- Kantor won their doubles match in spirited fashion, he translated that energy to the singles courts to dominate Rotaru 6-1, 6-1.

Throughout each of his matches, Pohlmann was emotional, inciting a warning from the umpire. A Louisville coach even scolded Pohlmann’s behavior. In response, Pohlmann won the next point and screamed, staring directly at the coach. His energy helped him, however, as he won several points by diving and sprawling to put every ball he could into play.

As the match came to an end, the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches were left to decide the outcome. Both Baumann and Michalicka had to win to give the match to Wisconsin, and they both were facing tough competition.

The matches got louder and fiercer as the crowds centered on the last two matches. Austin credits the competitiveness of the teams to the response they gave.

“It happens in the closer matches,” Austin said. “They’re definitely a very proud team, and they compete really hard. We feel like we’re the same way so every once in a while tempers flare.”

The No. 2 match was played tightly between Baumann and Simon Childs as Baumann tried to keep his team and his undefeated singles record alive. Baumann won the first set comfortably, stumbled in the second set and battled through a heated third set.

After trading breaks in the beginning of the set, Baumann took four games in a row and won the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to improve his record to 8-0.

The overall match was tied 3-3, and Michalicka was in the third set against Austen Childs to decide the winner. Down 5-3, Michalicka was serving to put himself back into contention, but Michalicka had too many unforced errors, eventually putting match point for Louisville into the net.

For the Wisconsin players, even for those who won, it all comes down to the team’s performance.

“It would be nicer if I lose and the team would win,” Pohlmann said.

“It doesn’t really matter how I play,” Baumann added. “If the team loses it still feels like a loss.”