Saturday afternoon’s action saw the No. 33-ranked Badgers host the No. 32 Golden Gophers in an exhilarating matchup fitting for a meeting of two highly ranked teams.
Though it came in ranked one spot below Minnesota, Wisconsin’s confidence was put on full display as it has been all season. Hoping to continue their season-long doubles winning streak, the Badgers sent juniors Chema Carranza and Josef Dodridge out to lock down the first doubles position. The freshman-junior duo of Chase Colton and Lamar Remy saw action at the second doubles slot and took the first victory of the day for Wisconsin with a lightning quick 6-3 win, setting the table for Carranza and Dodridge’s tiebreak-thriller to secure the doubles point for the Badgers.
After Carranza clinched a doubles victory he faced off against Minnesota’s Stefan Milicevic at the No. 3 singles slot, where he was beaten soundly, 6-2 6-2, for his second single loss in a row. Next up was Daniel Soyfer at No. 6 singles. Soyfer battled the Gophers’ Marino Alpeza to a first set tiebreak, which he took 7-3. In the second set, Soyfer had a far easier time, dismissing Alpeza 6-2 to even the singles score. Wisconsin would fall once again at the top singles position as Lamar Remy lost a tight match to Matic Spec. Remy had only lost one match at No. 1 singles heading into Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Osgar O’hoisin, playing at No. 4, won his fourth-straight singles match in a back-and-forth three-set grind.
With the score knotted up at three apiece, the match came down to junior Josef Dodridge in the No. 2 single spot. As was fitting for an afternoon filled with close matches, Dodrige went the full three sets against Felix Corwin. Things started off in the Badger’s favor as Dodridge took the first set in a close 7-5 shootout. Corwin came out in the second set and flipped the script, pulling even to bring the entire day down to the last set. Dodridge quickly found himself in a hole, down 3-0 in the third. With things looking gloomy and about the match on the line, Dodridge engineered the biggest comeback win of the season for Wisconsin to seal the match, which ended up earning him the Big Ten Athlete of the Week.
The Badgers will have a brief reprieve next week from Big Ten play as they take on San Diego on a spring break trip westward.
