The University of Wisconsin Men's tennis team (1-4 Big Ten, 4-7 overall) bounced back in a big way to snap a three-match losing streak with a resounding 6-1 victory over Marquette (0-2 Conference USA, 7-9 overall) Wednesday night at Nielsen Tennis stadium.
Even though they came out \a little bit flat"" in the words of head coach Pat Klingelhoets, the Badgers managed to take the doubles point 2-1 after their No. 1 and No. 3 teams were victorious. Shortly after the No. 2 team of juniors Mark Weinig and Jordan Raemisch lost 8-3, the No. 1 team of senior Alex Kasarov and sophomore Lachezar Kasarov brought UW back into contention for the point with an 8-5 victory. Then, the No. 3 team of freshmen Elliot Bisnow and Jeremy Sonkin rallied from behind to take their match 9-7 and put UW on the board first.
""We were probably a little bit lucky to get the doubles point,"" Klingelhoets said.
However, with their initial struggles behind them, the Badgers never looked back. Wisconsin came out gunning and won the first five singles matches, highlighted by a particularly dominant performance from their No. 1 singles player, Alex, who defeated his opponent 6-0, 6-1. Klingelhoets described Alex's performance as ""one of the best matches I have ever seen him play.""
""I think I was in the zone. Everything was going for me,"" Alex said. He even aced the final four points to take the match. ""I didn't really want to look cruel by beating him [6-0, 6-0], but I kind of wanted to finish the match,"" the senior added of his spectacular finish.
Sonkin-the freshman sensation-continued his solid play, defeating his opponent in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 to help his team to victory. Sonkin emphasized the importance of coming away with a victory against Marquette. Sonkin categorized it as a ""must win.""
""Today was one of those rough matches when you know you are better than the opponent you're playing,"" he said.
Also recording victories for the Badgers were Lachezar, freshman Felipe Bellido and freshman Brian Ko, who won 6-4 6-0, 6-3 6-2 and 6-0 7-5 respectively.
UW handed Marquette their ninth straight head-to-head defeat, as well as raising its all time series record against the Golden Eagles to an astounding 41-2-1 mark. Klingelhoets seemed unsure of the reason for his team's dominance of their neighbors to the east.
""It is strange,"" he said. ""Of course it is an in-state rivalry, so that always adds a little bit, and they don't want to lose to another in-state team.""
However, Alex had a different view on the situation. ""I don't really think it is a rivalry, people have got to win a couple of times for it to be a rivalry.""
After the victory last night and the solid play of their top guns, the Badgers expect big things for the rest of the season. ""We lost some tough matches here, but hey, we're on a roll now and ready to go,"" Klingelhoets said.
""This is exactly what we needed to make our rebound,"" Sonkin added. ""All the guys are playing well and we are practicing real hard and we are going to turn it around real quick. We are going to show teams how good we are and the talent we have.""
