MADISON, Wis. — Riding a four-match win streak, the No. 3 seed Wisconsin men’s tennis team hosts the 2022 Big Ten Tournament this weekend at Nielsen Tennis Stadium and opens tourney play at 6 p.m. Friday in a quarterfinal matchup with No. 6 seed Illinois.
The Badgers (12-9, 6-2 Big Ten) have won five of their last six matches and finished the regular season by securing their first top-three Big Ten finish since tying for second in 2008.
1. Regular Season Recap: The Badgers ended the regular season 12-9 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten play, earning them the third seed in this year’s Big Ten tournament. Wisconsin has been ranked as high 59th as a team in ITA rankings. Doubles play has been a constant strength for the Badgers, who have clinched 11 total doubles points throughout the season and went 12-5 in doubles matches during Big Ten play. Senior Jared Pratt this week earned second-team All-Big Ten honors for his performance at the No. 1 singles position, while junior Gabriel Huber was presented the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
2. Riding the Win Streak: On a four-match win streak, the Badgers are hoping the momentum continues to this weekend’s tournament. With the matches being played in Wisconsin’s backyard, the Badgers feel that home courts should play to their advantage, especially after going 7-1 at Nielsen this season. Head coach Danny Westerman emphasized this week that, with the opportunity to play at home, the team is “really pumped to go on Friday.”
3. Know the Opponent: The Badgers look to defeat the Illini for the second time this season, after hosting Illinois just three weeks ago and taking a close 4-3 win. Since then, Illinois has been on a four-match win streak with victories over Northwestern, Eastern Illinois, Indiana and Purdue. The Illini finished sixth in the Big Ten, going 5-4 in conference play on their way to a 13-13 overall record. They had two players awarded All-Big Ten honors, with Hunter Heck named to the first team and Olivier Stuart to the second team.
4. Follow the Action: Live updates on the Badgers can be found on Twitter (@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (@wisconsintennis), while live scoring/streaming will be linked from the men’s tennis schedule page on UWBadgers.com.
5. Up Next: If the Badgers can defeat Illinois, they will take on the winner of a quarterfinal between…
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