Wisconsin Badgers
Miami
Five Things to Know: Badgers open 2024 regular season on the road
January 10, 2024 | Men's Tennis
Wisconsin travels to face Miami
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Wisconsin men's tennis team officially starts its 2024 regular season with an away match, opening up the spring campaign against Miami on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 3 p.m. The match will be played inside the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Here are five things you should know before the season is underway:
1. BUILDING OFF FALL MATCHES: The Badgers had some success on the fall tournament circuit, and tried out a variety of combinations of players, with 50 percent of the team consisting of freshmen. As for the more experienced players, Gabriel Huber entered his fifth season of play with the Badgers, going 4-5 in singles matches and 5-4 in doubles. His 2022-23 doubles partner, sophomore Michael Minasyan, went 2-6 in singles and 2-4 in doubles. The pair was the No. 12 ranked ITA Preseason Doubles team after winning the 2022-23 ITA Regionals Doubles Championships, which will certainly drive them to build off their past success heading into team play.
Senior Mihailo Popovic was another familiar face on the court for the Badgers this fall, and was the No. 83 ranked singles player in the ITA preseason polls. The Serbia native fought tough competition in the fall, finishing 1-6 in singles and 1-4 in doubles play.
Jason Hildebrandt, a graduate student in his second season with the Badgers, saw limited action this fall, going 0-2 in singles and 1-1 in doubles matches alongside Popovic at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships.
2. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The 2024 roster includes four freshmen that will make their regular season debut in Miami this weekend. This includes Collin Beduhn, Matthew Fullerton, Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek.
Beduhn and Fullerton both hail from Minnesota where they were frequent high school competitors. The two were often paired up with one another for doubles play in the fall, playing eight matches together. Fullerton, an Edina native, put on a strong showing in singles matches, going 7-5 and earning a notable Big Ten Invitational win against Michigan's Will Cooksey, who ranked 85th in the ITA Preseason Singles rankings. Beduhn, who hails from Wayzata, went 7-8 in singles play, and closed out the fall season with three-straight wins.
Olsson, a product of Berlin Germany, went 4-8 in singles play and 7-5 in doubles matches in the fall. The freshman gained experience playing with a variety of doubles partners on the team, including Fullerton, Popovic, Huber, and Zlatohlavek, who he found great success alongside. At the B1G Invitational from Nov. 3-5, the duo won four out of their five matches.
Zlatohlavek, a Czech Republic native, plays with great poise and focus for a freshman. The 6'5" player went 8-7 in singles play, and advanced to the main draw singles of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships this fall. Zlatohlavek went 4-3 in doubles matches and played primarily with Olsson, but also played a match apiece with both Beduhn and Minasyan.
3. KNOW YOUR OPPONENT: Wisconsin and Miami last met in the 2019-20 season at the Miami Invitational where the Badgers finished off the tournament season and made final adjustments before heading into team play just days later against DePaul. The Badgers 3-5 in singles matches and went 1-1 against in doubles matches against the Hurricanes. Miami finished last season 15-10, including 5-7 in conference play. The Hurricanes begin team play just a day ahead of the Badgers, as they hosts Georgia Southern on Jan. 12.
4. FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live updates on the Badgers can be found on Twitter (@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (@wisconsintennis), while live scoring/streaming is HERE.
5. UP NEXT: Wisconsin will welcome DePaul for its first home match of the season on Friday, Jan. 19 followed by Notre Dame just two days later on Sunday, Jan. 21. The matches will begin at 6 p.m. and 12 p.m. respectively, and admission is free at Nielsen Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
