Badgers Men's Tennis Wins Both Saturday Matches at Nielsen Tennis Center to Move to 4-2

The Wisconsin men's tennis team won both of its matches at Nielsen Tennis Center on Saturday, beating East Tennessee State and then UW-Green Bay to improve its record to 4-2.

Against East Tennessee State (2-3), the Badgers opened by winning the doubles point. Head coach Danny Westerman made a small change to the lineup by separating the ninth-ranked senior pair of Chema Carranza and Josef Dodridge. Carranza played alongside freshman Jesper Freimuth, who was appearing in his first match for Wisconsin, while Dodridge partnered with sophomore Daniel Soyfer.

The reshuffled pairings produced strong results. Carranza and Freimuth won 6-2, and Dodridge and Soyfer took their match 6-1 to give Wisconsin the early point.

Singles play was tougher. Dodridge followed his doubles win with a 6-0, 6-0 victory to put the Badgers up 2-0. Then senior Lamar Remy fell awkwardly on his left ankle during his match against Juan Lugo. Remy had led 5-1 in the first set but was clearly hampered by the injury and lost 6-7, 3-6. After sophomore Chase Colton also lost, East Tennessee State had tied the match at 2-2.

Wisconsin settled the outcome in the remaining singles matches. Soyfer beat Frazier Rengifo 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to restore the Badgers' lead. Freimuth then clinched the 4-2 victory by rallying against Miguel Este after dropping the first set 2-6. He won the second set 7-6 and the third 6-0.

Westerman praised the newcomer. "[Freimuth] got the call today and he responded," he told UWBadgers.com. "He was struggling in the first set of his match but he stayed positive. He saved a couple match points and then he absolutely rolled. I was very proud of him."

Freimuth's win ended Carranza's match against Robert Herrera before it finished. Carranza was leading 6-4, 5-7, 5-2 at the time, having let two match points slip in the second set before recovering in the third.

A couple of hours later, the Badgers faced UW-Green Bay (1-2) and shut out the Phoenix 4-0. Soyfer moved to a new doubles partner, senior Darius Mackenzie, who was making his spring season debut for Wisconsin. The pair beat Felix Triebe and Tony Leto 6-1. Carranza and Freimuth stayed together and won 6-3, securing the doubles point and keeping Wisconsin unbeaten in doubles this season.

Soyfer, Freimuth and Colton all won their singles matches decisively to complete the 4-0 result.

Wisconsin next travels to the West Coast for two matches. The Badgers play Oregon on Friday at 6 p.m. CT in Eugene, Oregon, and then face Washington on Sunday at noon in Seattle.