UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team added to its Big Ten Conference win total on Friday night when they visited No. 73 Penn State. The Badgers (9-6, 2-1 B1G) defeated the Nittany Lions (13-7, 0-3 B1G) 5-2 to start their weekend on the road.
The team grabbed their 12th doubles point of the season with a pair of wins at No. 2 and then No. 1 doubles. First up was Robin Parts and Sebastian Vile with a beat down of Penn State’s Malik Bhatnagar and Charl Morgan. Their 6-4 win at No. 2 singles put the Badgers one step closer to the first point.
After dropping the No. 3 singles match, it was all down to the Badgers’ No. 41-ranked doubles team of Gabriel Huber and Michael Minasyan. They worked their way to a deciding tiebreaker against PSU’s Sam Bossem and Loren Byers. With a 7-3 tiebreaker win, the Wisconsin duo took the No. 1 doubles match 7-6 (7-3) and put the Badgers up 1-0 going into singles.
Grad student Jared Pratt stepped up and took the lead in singles play for Wisconsin, getting the singles’ ball rolling with a quick 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles over Morgan.
Not far behind was Huber at No. 4 singles. His swift 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Bossem marked the senior’s ninth singles win of the season.
With one point left to clinch the match, the Badgers faced a resurging Penn State team.
Leading 3-2, Minasyan was the closest to the finish line. After dropping the first set 6-3, he performed a come-from-behind two-set victory, taking both the second and third set 6-3. Celebrations ensued from storming teammates before everyone directed their attention to the last match standing.
With all eyes on Parts, he gave all that he had to deliver the final point for the team. The senior won the first set in extra games 7-5 before dropping the second in a very close tiebreaker 7-6 (7-3). Parts and his opponent Pranav Nemani played a winner-takes-all 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match. The poinst went back and forth until Parts ultimately came away with an 11-9 victory and sealed Wisconsin’s 5-2 team win.
Up Next: The Badgers stay on the road to take on No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus Sunday morning at 11 a.m. CT.
#53 Wisconsin 5, #73 Penn State 2
Singles Results
1. Jared Pratt (WIS) def. Charl Morgan (PSU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Loren Byers (PSU) def. Mihailo Popovic (WIS) 4-6, 6-1, 6-0
3. Miko Eala (PSU)…
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