This weekend, the No. 28 UW men's tennis team will begin a treacherous five-match road swing with non-conference duels against No. 14 Wake Forest and No. 20 North Carolina State.
The Badgers (4-0) started their spring campaign last Saturday and Sunday with four consecutive home victories, including three 7-0 sweeps. UW failed to capture the doubles point in a match last Sunday against Northern Illinois but rebounded to defeat the Huskies 5-2 in its most challenging match-up of the season thus far.
For the next three weeks, UW will face its toughest non-conference stretch of the season and arguably its most difficult run of the year. The Badgers will take on four opponents ranked in the top 35 nationally in the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Louisville, the Badgers' fourth opponent during the stretch, is ranked No. 58 in the same poll.
Wisconsin will face North Carolina State on Saturday and then travel 100 miles east to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on Wake Forest.
The Wolfpack (3-0) have dropped just one singles match in three dominating victories despite the absence of a singles player ranked in the top- 100. However, two of their players, junior Jay Weinacker and senior Nick Cavaday, are highly ranked doubles players. N.C. State will play host to No. 41 Rice one day before taking on the Badgers.
The Demon Deacons (2-0) opened their season with impressive victories in back-to-back road contests at No. 38 William & Mary and No. 45 Old Dominion. Sophomore Cory Parr and freshman Steven Forman, both ranked in singles and doubles, are Wake Forest's top players.
Women's Tennis
The UW women's tennis team will attempt to successfully follow up a strong opening weekend this Saturday as it heads to Blacksburg, Va., to take on No. 63 Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The Badgers (2-0) took down Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois in consecutive matches last weekend. In head coach Brian Fleishman's dual-match debut, UW defeated the Eagles 5-2 Friday afternoon and followed that with a 7-0 sweep of the Huskies on Saturday morning. Two freshmen, Emese Kardhordo and Jessica Seyferth, began their UW careers with two singles victories apiece.
The Hokies (2-0) also recorded a pair of successful dual matches over the past weekend. Virginia Tech took out Georgia State and Furman, 6-1 and 4-3, respectively, in two Saturday matches played in Greenville, S.C. The Hokies won five of six doubles matches to take the doubles point in each dual match.
The Badgers' next opponent features a roster with four international players, including No. 1 singles player Yasmin Hamza, a freshman from Cairo, Egypt. In addition, Tech assistant coach Nicholas Mueller is a graduate of UW-Oshkosh and a former volunteer assistant with the Badgers.
