Wisconsin falls short to Old Dominion, 5-2

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team (0-4, 0-0 B1G) returned to Nielsen Tennis Stadium to face Old Dominion (3-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) on Friday Jan. 26. The Badgers lost to Old Dominion 5-2. Wisconsin was down three players, including their top-ranked singles player Mihailo Popovic, ultimately forcing the team to forfeit both a doubles and singles match. 

Without a third doubles team to face Old Dominion, Wisconsin needed to win both of the remaining matches in order to claim the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, the freshman duo of Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek took on formidable opponents, the ITA Preseason No. 6 doubles pair of Codie van Schalkwyk and Connor van Schalkwyk. They kept the match close and battled hard, but the match ultimately went unfinished, with Wisconsin trailing 5-4 in the end. On the other court, Michael Minasyan and Matthew Fullerton partnered up for the first time this season to take on Cosme Rolland De Ravel and Jakob Cadonau. Old Dominion’s No. 2 doubles pair was ranked No. 33 in the ITA preseason poll, and ended up taking the match, 6-3. With the Badgers’ forfeit and the one loss, the Monarchs took the doubles point and headed into singles play up 1-0.

Without a third doubles team to face Old Dominion, Wisconsin needed to win both of the remaining matches in order to claim the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, the freshman duo of Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek took on formidable opponents, the ITA Preseason No. 6 doubles pair of Codie van Schalkwyk and Connor van Schalkwyk. They kept the match close and battled hard, but the match ultimately went unfinished, with Wisconsin trailing 5-4 in the end. On the other court, Michael Minasyan and Matthew Fullerton partnered up for the first time this season to take on Cosme Rolland De Ravel and Jakob Cadonau. Old Dominion’s No. 2 doubles pair was ranked No. 33 in the ITA preseason poll, and ended up taking the match, 6-3. With the Badgers’ forfeit and the one loss, the Monarchs took the doubles point and headed into singles play up 1-0.

Forfeiting the No. 6 singles match put the Badgers down 2-0, a sharp deficit for the team to overcome. Tomas Zlatohlavek’s match at No. 3 finished first, with his opponent Yanis Moundir claiming a 6-2, 6-1 victory. This was followed by Collin Beduhn’s match at No. 4 singles, who dropped the…