The Wisconsin men's tennis team notched two more wins this weekend with a pair of straightforward victories over Southern Methodist University 4-0 and University of Illinois-Chicago 6-1.
The Badgers (6-1), who jumped seven positions in the most recent ITA rankings to No. 25, started the morning against No. 69 SMU (3-3). Doubles play ended in the Badgers' favor, as they swept matches at all three positions, though they lasted much longer than the straight-set wins would suggest.
""SMU is a really good team. They're definitely under-ranked,"" head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. ""They've got some good guys at the top and are solid all through the lineup.""
In singles play the Mustangs bucked back, pushing five out of six matches into first-set tiebreaks, two of which broke in their favor. At No. 2 sophomore Patrick Pohlmann struggled to make headway against Mustang junior David Costa. The Badger earned seven break opportunities against Costa but was only able to convert on one and ultimately dropped his first set in a tiebreak, as did junior No. 20 Marek Michalicka at No. 1.
This time the crucial wins needed to overcome SMU came from the other end of the lineup.
""Normally we have our top three guys win matches, but today it was kind of a team win,"" freshman Chris Freeman said. ""We all stepped up and supported each other, and that was great for us as a team.""
At No. 6, senior Michael Dierberger was the first to put down his opponent 6-0, 6-4, followed by Freeman at No. 3, who won a difficult match against big-serving junior Darren Walsh 7-6(5), 7-5. Freeman said he relished the opportunity to move up to the top spots for his team.
""It was a big confidence booster for me. I had some tough matches, played some good doubles and carried it through to the singles,"" said Freeman, who stepped up again that afternoon as No. 2 singles against UIC. ""It's a leadership position, and for me to come out with a win is just helpful for me.""
Senior Luke Rassow-Kantor tallied the final win 7-6(5), 6-2 for the Badgers to clinch the match 4-0 and stop play after over three and a half hours of competition, leaving the Badgers an hour and a half before they took the court against UIC.
The Flames (2-5) opened play with little fight in doubles, and the Badgers surged ahead with strong victories across the board. In singles the Badgers continued more comfortably than before, collecting five first sets and only facing one tiebreak. Michalicka dominated UIC's Bastian Harbo, shutting the senior out of the match completely 6-0, 6-0. With similar results in four other positions, Wisconsin dismissed the Flames 6-1.
According to Van Emburgh, Saturday's victories mark the beginning of a season that will only get more difficult for the squad.
""We still haven't even come close to our conference season, we have a really tough match with Nebraska on Thursday and ... from here on out it's going to be really, really competitive,"" Van Emburgh said. ""This should really get us feeling good about where our ranking is, what our record is, and really have a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season.""
No. 66 Nebraska (3-2) will meet up with Wisconsin Thursday, Feb. 11 in Madison before the Badgers leave for Texas A&M this weekend. Play begins at 4 p.m. at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
