Wisconsin Badgers
Illinois State
Five Things to Know: Badgers are back in action
February 17, 2025 | Men's Tennis
Wisconsin hosts Illinois State on Wednesday at 4:30
1. HOME AND AWAY: The Wisconsin men's tennis team will face Illinois State (4-7) on Wednesday, Feb. 19, with action starting at 4:30 p.m. at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Admission is free for this match. The Badgers will then travel south to face off against Notre Dame (8-2) on Friday Feb. 21. First serve for this match is at 3 p.m. (CT) in South Bend, Indiana.
2. PERFECT WEEKEND IN MADISON: In the Badgers' last weekend of action, Wisconsin improved to 4-1 on the season after winning both matches against Western Michigan and Drake.
The Badgers won four singles matches against the Broncos on Friday, Jan. 31 to take the 4-3 victory. The team showed resilience after Western Michigan claimed the doubles point to start the match. Freshmen Patrik Meszaros (No.3) and Edouard Aubert (No. 5) along with sophomore Matthew Fullerton (No. 4) dominated their matches, winning in straight sets and giving Wisconsin the 3-2 lead. Freshman Sachiv Kumar (No. 6) ultimately sealed the team victory with a comeback win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
On Sunday, the Badgers controlled every match on their way to a 4-0 sweep of the Bulldogs. The combination of Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek worked quickly at No.1 doubles, winning 6-0. At No. 2 doubles, Michael Minasyan and Patrik Meszaros improved to 3-0 as a partnership with a 6-1 victory. Minasyan won every game at No. 1 singles to take the 6-0, 6-0 win. Meszaros followed suit with a straight set victory at No. 3 singles. In Olsson's first singles match during dual play this season he commanded the court to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph.
Freshman Patrik Meszaros improved to a perfect 5-0 in singles play and 4-0 in doubles play during dual action. Fellow freshman Edouard Aubert also remains undefeated; he is 7-0 when including the FAU Invite to start the spring season.
3. KNOW YOUR OPPONENTS: Wisconsin holds a 23-0 overall record in the all-time series against Illinois State. The Badgers are undefeated against the Redbirds, with their most recent victory being in 2020 when they won 6-1.
Notre Dame holds a decisive 52-19 overall record in the all-time series. Wisconsin looks to snap a 6-match losing streak. The Fighting Irish won last season 5-2. Notre Dame's Sebastian Dominko ranked No. 33 in ITA's Feb. 5th rankings. The partnership of Dominko/Peter Nad ranked No. 84 in doubles.
4. FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats and video for the match are available on uwbadgers.com. Live updates can be found on Twitter (@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (@wisconsintennis) and a match recap will be posted on uwbadgers.com.
5. UP NEXT: The Badgers will travel east on I-94 next week to wrap up their non-conference play with a match against the Marquette Golden Eagles. First serve is set for 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 in Milwaukee.
Players Mentioned
