A dominant month of March has earned the UW men’s tennis team some well-deserved national recognition. After going a perfect 5-0 last month, including two victories against ranked teams, the Badgers have cracked the ITA team rankings for the first time this spring, checking in at No. 46.
After losing for the first time since February last Sunday against No. 2 Ohio State, the team will be looking to return to its winning ways when it heads to Indiana this weekend for an important late-season road trip.
Wisconsin (3-2 Big Ten, 11-7 overall) will be heavy favorites on Saturday when it takes on Purdue (0-4, 8-1). The Boilermakers are one of two Big Ten teams without a conference win and will take a four-game losing streak into Saturday’s match. Purdue features the No.59 doubles pair in Gergely Madarasz and Athel Bennett.
The Badgers boast an impressive doubles lineup and have captured the doubles point in 13 of their 16 matches this spring. They’re led by seniors Chema Carranza and Josef Dodridge who moved up three spots to the No. 2 doubles ranking this week. The pair has dominated when playing together this spring and have a perfect 8-0 record to show for it. Junior Osgar O’Hoisin and sophomore Daniel Soyfer also earned a spot in the doubles rankings this week, coming in at the No. 89 spot with an impressive 10-3 record.
In singles, O’Hoisin has been red-hot as of late. The junior will take a six-match winning streak into the weekend, including the defeat of Ohio State’s No. 46 Kyle Seelig.
Wisconsin will hit the road the next day, heading to Bloomington where it will battle the Hoosiers (9-10, 2-3) on Sunday. Indiana has played a tough schedule, with six of its 10 losses coming to ranked opponents. Bloomington has not been kind to the Badgers in recent years, with their last win there coming in 2008. Indiana will also be looking to avenge a 7-0 loss suffered at Nielsen last year, at which point the Hoosiers were ranked No. 46.
Both matches this weekend will be played at 11 a.m.
