MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's tennis team completed an unblemished opening weekend of play thanks to dramatic third-set wins by Tim Dzhurinskiy and Gabriel Huber.that lifted the Badgers to a 4-3 win over DePaul on Saturday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
The Badgers trailed, 3-2, with only Huber's match at No. 2 singles and Dzhurinskiy's match at the No. 6 spot left to be completed.
After dropping his first set 7-5, Huber came back to win the second 6-1 and force a decisive third set in his match with DePaul's Luuk Wassenaar. He came away with a 6-4 win in the decisive set to tie the team score at 3-3.
That left the result in the hands of Dzhurinskiy, who was locked in a back-and-forth battle with Leon Huck that saw him take the first set 6-4 before Huck won 7-6 (7-4) on a tiebreaker in the second. Dzhurinskiy battled back to claim the third set, 6-4,, in front of a high-intensity crowd and his gathered teammates to clinch the match for the Badgers.
UW's other singles wins came from Robin Parts at No. 4, who downed Tripp Tuff 6-0, 7-6 (7-3), and Sebastian Vile at No. 5, who claimed a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Antonio Matteo Iaquinto.
Vile and Parts also picked up Wisconsin's lone doubles victory with a 6-3 win over the Blue Demons duo of Tuff and Iaquinto.
Straight From the Court
Head Coach Danny Westerman
"It was a great college match. DePaul is always a tough match and competes very well. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole early but there was no panic from our team, and we talked about that early. It was great to have Gabriel and Tim come through at the end because they haven't had that opportunity yet so I'm really proud of the guys, really proud of the fight. Great college match."
Sophomore Tim Dzhurinskiy
"It was a great match today, a really good win for our program. I'd like to thank the fans for coming out, and for me it was an amazing experience, something I've never had before in my life. It was great. I enjoyed it, and as you can see, all the boys are happy. Next week we're on the road, let's repeat it."
Up Next
The Badgers travel to Auburn, Alabama, for two SEC matchups next week. Wisconsin plays Vanderbilt at 11 a.m. Saturday takes on Auburn at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Wisconsin 4, DePaul 3
Singles Results
1. Vito Tonejc (DPU) def. Jared Pratt (WIS) 6-2, 6-0
2. Gabriel Huber (WIS) def. Luuk Wassenaar (DPU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
3. #124 Marino Jakic (DPU) def. Lenard Soha (WIS) 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
4. Robin Parts (WIS) def. Tripp Tuff (DPU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Sebastian Vile (WIS) def. Matteo Iaquinto (DPU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Tim Dzhurinskiy (WIS) def. Leon Huck (DPU) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
Doubles Results
1. Vito Tonejc/Marino Jakic (DPU) def. Jared Pratt/Gabriel Huber (WIS) 6-4
2. Sebastian Vile/Robin Parts (WIS) def. Tripp Tuff/Matteo Iaquinto (DPU) 6-3
3. Luuk Wassenaar/Lars Peder Minsaas (DPU) def. Lenard Soha/Tim Dzhurinskiy (WIS) 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,5,3,4,2,6)
