Wisconsin Badgers
Penn State
Wisconsin to host Penn State and Ohio State
April 15, 2024 | Men's Tennis
The Badgers prepare for final weekend of the regular season
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's tennis team (1-19, 0-6 B1G) returns home for its final weekend of regular-season tennis in the 2024 season. Wisconsin will face Penn State (4-18, 0-7 B1G) on Friday, Apr. 19 at 3 p.m. and No. 1 Ohio State (25-1, 7-0) on Sunday, Apr. 21 at noon for its senior night.
Here are five things you should know before Wisconsin faces Penn State and Ohio State:
1. SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: The Penn State Nittany Lions are 4-18 overall this season and tied for last in the Big Ten with an 0-7 record. In non-conference play, Penn State defeated Cleveland State, Temple, Lehigh and Mount St. Mary's at home in University Park, but have struggled through a tough Big Ten schedule. Similar to the Badgers the Nittany Lions have a young team, with seven of their ten players being underclassmen. Penn State has one ranked singles player, No. 79 Miko Eala, who holds a 14-8 record, and defeated Michigan State's No. 43-ranked Robbie Hohmann, 6-3, 6-2 in his last time out on the court.
Last season, the Badgers and No. 73-ranked Nittany Lions met on Mar. 31 in Pennsylvania, and the Badgers took home the win, 5-2. The Badgers claimed their 12th doubles point of the season, with No. 41 Gabriel Huber/Michael Minasyan winning 7-6 (7-3) over Sam Bossem/Loren Byers and Robin Parts/Sebastian Vile defeating Malik Bhatnagar/Charl Morgan 6-4. Heading into singles play, Wisconsin claimed four victories, with Pratt, Huber Minasyan and Parts all winning their respective matches.
2. SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES: The Ohio State Buckeyes are the number one-ranked team in the nation, with a 25-1 record and a perfect 7-0 record in conference play. The Buckeyes have claimed 13 ranked wins this season, with five wins against top 10-ranked programs. Six Buckeyes players are ranked in the top 125 in singles play, including No. 16 JJ Tracy, No. 17 Cannon Kingsley, No. 26 Jack Anthrop, No. 28 Justin Boulais, No. 112 Robert Cash and No. 121 Alexander Bernard. The team also has six ranked doubles pairs, including No. 3 Robert Cash/JJ Tracy, No. 24 Justin Boulais/Andrew Lutschaunig, No. 49 Alexander Bernard/JJ Tracy and No. 61 Jack Anthrop/Preston Stearns.
The Badgers and Buckeyes met Apr. 2 of last season, with No. 2 Ohio State taking a 6-1 victory over Wisconsin in Columbus. Junior Mihailo Popovic defeated No. 53-ranked Justin Boulais, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) for the Badgers' lone point of the day in upset fashion.
3. LAST SERVE: This past weekend, the Badgers traveled to Indiana for its last road trip of the regular season. Wisconsin played Purdue on Friday, Apr. 12 and after claiming the doubles point, the team ended up losing, 4-2. The match got off to a strong start for UW, as Gabriel Huber, Tomas Zlatohlavek and Jason Hildebrandt all won the first set against the Boilermakers. Huber ended up taking the No. 2 match, defeating Soham Purohit 6-2, 6-0, and this was the sole singles point of the day for Wisconsin. Two days later, Wisconsin took on No. 69 Indiana, but struggled with just five available players. Zlatohalvek earned his first win in the No. 4 spot, defeating Ilya Tiraspolsky 6-4, 6-2, while Collin Beduhn defeated Luc Boulier 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-3) in the No. 5 match. The freshmen earned the Badgers' two points against Indiana, as they lost 5-2 in Bloomington.
4. FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live updates on the Badgers can be found on X (@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (@wisconsintennis), while live scoring/streaming is HERE.
5. UP NEXT: Once the regular season concludes, the Badgers will head to the Big Ten Championships. The event will run from Thursday, Apr. 25 to Sunday, Apr. 28 and will be held in Evanston, Ill.
Players Mentioned
