The Wisconsin men’s tennis team had little success during the ITA Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla.
Wisconsin had three singles players competing: senior Nolan Polley, sophomore Moritz Baumann and senior Jeremy Sonkin. Only Polley managed to advance past the first round, and he could not make it beyond the second.
Wisconsin also sent out the doubles pairing of Baumann and Polley, who were beaten 8-5 by freshmen Jeff Dadamo and Johnny Hamui of Florida Tuesday.
Sonkin played the final match in his qualifying bracket and drew senior Amrit Narasimhan of Memphis. Narasimhan won the first set 6-4, but got a battle from Sonkin in the second. In the end, Sonkin could only force a tiebreaker and lost 7-6.
Second-seeded Baumann faced Virginia sophomore Houston Barrick, who staged a relatively easy upset 6-4, 6-4. Barrick would win his next match before losing to freshman Clint Bowles of Florida State.
Polley faced a tough opening match against freshman Sanam Singh from Virginia. Singh won the opening game decisively 6-1. Polley, however, refused to concede and fought back to narrowly take the second game 7-6. The third game went down to the wire with Polley ultimately pulling out a tight 7-6 victory.
The win bought him a Tuesday match against the 12th seed in Thomas Liversage, a freshman from the University of San Diego. Liversage won the match 6-4, 6-4.
Liversage went on to win his next two matches and earned a qualifying spot in the main draw.
Head coach Greg Van Emburgh’s squad started their season well at the Baylor Invitational, but could not maintain their momentum in this tournament. Last year the team made it all the way to the NCAA tournament and advanced past the first round, an unprecedented feat for Wisconsin.
All three Badgers who competed in Tulsa are ranked in the top 125 Men’s singles players by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Polley is No. 101, Sonkin comes in at No. 87 and Baumann leads the pack with a ranking of No. 49.
Wisconsin will next compete in the Treibly College Challenge at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., Friday.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this article.
