MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's tennis team (1-0) earned its first dual match win of the season on Friday, downing North Dakota (0-1), 5-2, at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Badgers jumped out to an early lead by winning the doubles point. Sebastian Vile and Robin Parts were the first duo to earn a 6-2 victory over the Fighting Hawks' Cian McDonnell and Edmond Aynedjian. Jared Pratt and Gabriel Huber rounded out the effort by defeating North Dakota's Gerhard Sullwald and Nikiti Snezhko 6-4 to clinch the doubles point for the Badgers.
Huber was the first Badger to earn a singles point for Wisconsin after defeating Aynedjian 6-1, 6-1, while senior Lenard Soha swept Cian McDonnell in the first set to win his match 6-0, 6-2. Pratt clinched the match for UW by defeating Sullwald handily 6-2, 6-2. Parts rounded out the Wisconsin points by winning his match on a 10-4 tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets against North Dakota's Riley Odell 6-3, 2-6.
Straight From the Court
Head Coach Danny Westerman
"The first match of the year is always difficult. North Dakota came in and played aggressively and I think we handled most situations very well. It was great to see Gabriel back after the last match he played was last March. I thought he played great, and for Jared and Leno (Lenard Soha) to win quickly shows a lot of maturity, a lot of leadership. Those three guys did great and Parts did a nice job closing out the match. It's always going to take a team, it's never going to be one guy."
Senior Lenard Soha
"First match of the year is always exciting but also hard to start. People are nervous, you gotta be ready and I think we were. Just be alert like today, keep the energy up, and that's going to bring us results."
Up Next
The Badgers host DePaul at 4 p.m. Saturday at Nielsen. First serve is set for 4 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on UWBadgers.com.
Wisconsin 5, North Dakota 2
Singles Results
1. Jared Pratt (WIS) def. Gerhard Sullwald (UND) 6-2, 6-2
2. Gabriel Huber (WIS) def. Edmond Aynedjian (UND) 6-1, 6-1
3. Lenard Soha (WIS) def. Cian McDonnell (UND) 6-0, 6-2
4. Robin Parts (WIS) def. Riley Odell (UND) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4)
5. Nikita Snezhko (UND) def. Sebastian Vile (WIS) 6-4, 6-2
6. Dylan Leeman (UND) def. Daniel Nuzhny (WIS) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-3)
Doubles Results
1. Jared Pratt/Gabriel Huber (WIS) def. Gerhard Sullwald/Nikita Snezhko (UND) 6-4
2. Sebastian Vile/Robin Parts (WIS) def. Cian McDonnell/Edmond Aynedjian (UND) 6-2
3. Riley Odell/Dylan Leeman (UND) vs. Lenard Soha/Tim Dzhurinskiy (WIS) unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (2,1,3,5,4,6)
