Wisconsin defeated by Washington, 6-1

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team (0-5, 0-0 B1G) dropped its first of two matches of the weekend to Washington (3-2, 0-0 Pac-12), 6-1, on Friday, Feb. 2 inside Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Once again, the Badgers found themselves in an unusual circumstances with only five available players for the evening. They forfeited one doubles and one singles match but battled hard as they forced the final three matches into tiebreaks.

Playing No. 1 doubles was Oliver Olsson/Tomas Zlahtolavek (WIS) vs. the No. 12 ranked pair of Cesar Bouchelaghem/Dzianis Zharyn (WASH). Wisconsin’s freshman pair was outmatched by Washington’s juniors and ended up losing the match, 6-0. Playing alongside them at No. 2 doubles was Matthew Fullerton/Michael Minasyan (WIS) against Nedim Suko/Ivan Sodan (WASH). The Badgers were ahead of the Huskies, 4-1, but the match ultimately went unfinished.

Heading into singles, Wisconsin forfeited the No. 6 match, dropping them down 2-0 to Washington. Wisconsin’s Matthew Fullerton was the first match to finish, as he lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to Washington’s Cesar Bouchelaghem. Michael Minasyan’s match was the next to finish, with him losing to Dzianis Zharyn, 6-1, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. 

This ultimately lost the Badgers the match, but the teams played out the remainder. In a neck and neck finish to the night, all three of the remaining matches entered into a tiebreak setting. Oliver Olsson at No. 5 singles won his hard-fought battle with Washington’s Ivan Sodan,  6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9). Next up, Collin Beduhn came just points away from a win at No. 4 singles, losing just…