6-1: Wisconsin tennis beats Penn, falls 6-5 at Middle Tennessee State

The Wisconsin men's tennis team finished the weekend with a split result. They defeated Pennsylvania 6-1 at the Nielsen Tennis Center before losing 6-5 to Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Badgers now stand at 6-6 overall and remain winless in their road matches this season.

The home victory over Pennsylvania marked the first time Wisconsin beat the Quakers in program history. The Badgers had lost the previous meeting 4-3 last season. On Friday, the team secured the doubles point with straight-set wins from senior Josef Dodridge and junior Osgar O'Hoisin, as well as sophomores Daniel Soyfer and Chase Colton. Wisconsin won all remaining singles matches except for one, which O'Hoisin took in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.

In the second match, Wisconsin traveled to face the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, who had not lost at home and had shut out five opponents this season. The Badgers took the doubles point, with Dodridge and O'Hoisin defeating Chris Edge and Tom Moonen 6-4. Chema Carranza and Jesper Freimuth added a 6-2 win over Glan Issa and Jan Porteset.

The match remained competitive through the first three singles matches, which Middle Tennessee State won to lead 3-2. Dodridge then won 7-6, 6-1 to tie the match at 3-3. The final point fell to the No. 2 singles match between Carranza and Tom Moonen.

Carranza lost the opening set 6-7 and won the second set 6-1. In the deciding set, Carranza led 5-4. Moonen saved match points to close the set 7-5, giving the Blue Raiders the 6-5 decision. Head coach Danny Westerman noted the difficulty of the loss but viewed it as a necessary part of the season.

"This one stings. We need to keep working. We put ourselves in these situations so we can eventually get over the hump," Westerman said. The Badgers return to the Nielsen Tennis Center next weekend for a doubleheader against Cornell and UW-Green Bay.