NORFOLK, Va. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team hit the road for the first time this season and dominated the Virginia Tech Hokies in the process on Saturday afternoon. Their neutral match, played at Old Dominion Unviersity, ended with the Badgers (3-0) on top 5-0.
The Badgers were very evenly matched in the doubles competition, having it all come down to No. 2 doubles.
Jared Pratt and Jason Hildebrandt won their third straight doubles match, beating Virginia Tech’s Matt Harper and Alberto Orso, 6-3, to put Wisconsin in range for the doubles point. With UW leading 1-0, Robin Parts and Sebastian Vile pulled out an exciting 7-6 tiebreaker win to give the Badgers the doubles point and handing the Hokies their first doubles point loss of the season.
Singles play started out strong for Wisconsin. Five Badgers secured first-set wins which gave them the momentum they needed to get the ball rolling and win matches.
Vile kicked it off with a quick 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hugo Maia, followed very closely by Gabriel Huber with another two-set victory, taking down Manuel Goncalves 6-2, 6-4.
Up 3-0, Pratt and Michael Minasyan finished their matches almost concurrently putting the Badgers up 5-0, securing their third victory of the season.
Pratt recorded his first singles win of the season in an impressive two-set victory over the No. 32 singles player in the country, Ryan Fishback, 6-4, 6-3. Pratt stayed calm and collected throughout this whole match and clinched the Wisconsin win in exciting fashion.
Last but not least, Minasyan served up his own 6-4, 6-3 win over Orso to give UW the sweep.
Straight from the Court
Graduate Student Jared Pratt
“Firstly, the win and the level of play itself in singles was great but super impressive from the team especially with [Mihailo] Popovic out and to win like that in a building away from home. It’s a real statement in my opinion that everyone came out and really put their guy away. Doubles was great. It’s basically the same in singles and doubles. You have your moments early on where things aren’t going well but not just me, the whole team is incredibly tough when it gets tight and I think we showed that again today.”
Up Next
The Badgers stay on the road and take on Old Dominion Sunday morning at 10 a.m. CT.
Wisconsin 5, Virginia Tech 0
Singles Results
1. Jared Pratt…
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