MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team’s resurgent season came to an end Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals in a 4-1 loss to No. 6 seed Illinois at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Illinois (14-13) battled back from an early deficit to down the third-seeded Badgers (12-10), who were coming off their best Big Ten regular season in 14 years.
The lone point for the Badgers came from their doubles play, which has been a strength all season long. Robin Parts and Sebastian Vile kicked it off with a swift 6-2 win over Illinois’ Lucas Horve and Hunter Heck, the No. 77-ranked team in the nation.
A hopeful Nielsen crowd migrated to Court No. 7 to watch Lenard Soha and Gabriel Huber battle it out against the No. 82-ranked Illini duo of Siphosothando Montsi and Olivier Stuart for the doubles point. The Badger duo fought their way back from an early deficit to tie up the match 5-5.
A game for the Illini and a game for Wisconsin made the score 6-6 and it all came down to a tiebreaker. Neither pair was giving up but Soha and Huber gave the Badger faithful crowd something to cheer for in a thrilling 7-6 (8-6) tiebreaker win.
Straight from the Court
Head Coach Danny Westerman: “Epic doubles point, it was great to win that. But more importantly the guys had an amazing experience tonight. The best crowd we’ve had maybe ever, wrapped around them for the doubles point on all sides of Nielsen. This is something they’ll have forever. That’s why it’s nice to host the Big Tens and we gave it our all.
“The season started a little slowly… so it was really special every week for them to build one brick at a time. Getting 4-3 after 4-3 win, you could see the level that was able to come out of them. The vibe on the team was unbelievable for the last six weeks through the Big Tens. They accomplished a lot, something our program hasn’t done since 2008, and I’m proud of them. We have a lot of guys coming back, but the guys that are leaving have left their mark. You want to always leave it better than you found it, and I couldn’t ask for more from them. It’s a special group.”
#6 Illinois 4, #3 Wisconsin 1
Singles Results
1. Jared Pratt (WIS) vs. #82 Hunter Heck (ILL) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 3-1, unfinished
2. Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) def.
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