By Brandon Feivor
The Warhawks spent their Saturday in Madison playing a pair of Division-I programs, UW-Madison and the University of Illinois-Chicago. They lost both matches and fell to 0-3 for the spring season.
In the first match the Badgers swept singles and doubles, and the `Hawks did not win a single set. They are now 0-16 all-time against the Badgers.
Coach Frank Barnes said he schedules matches with high-quality opponents to prepare his players to face the best that D-III has to offer.
“Madison invites us back every year because we play well against them and it’s a testament to our program that we can play these teams,” Barnes said. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we really held our own.”
In the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches, both flights were ahead until the fourth game, before they both ended 8-4 in favor of the Badgers.
The `Hawks fared better against UIC coming away with an early lead after an 8-2 win in No. 1 doubles. The team had a chance to sweep doubles, but saw leads slip away for the remaining two flights and lost them both 6-8.
The teams were tied 3-3 as they awaited the outcome of the No. 3 singles match. Andy McGlashen took the first set 6-4, but lost the second 4-6 and started cramping heading into the tiebreaker.
McGlashen kept it close at 3-2, but fell behind 3-5 and eventually lost the final set 3-6 and the match. Barnes said the comeback was exciting.
“Andy’s legs locked up and he was limping around the court and fell to the ground at one point,” Barnes said. “In spite of how bad he was cramping, he played pretty amazingly just to hang with that guy.”
Cleveland State transfer Ben Shklyar won No. 1 singles (6-2, 7-6). Although he came from a D-I program, he said it was tough jumping from No. 6 to No. 1 in the lineup.
“UIC has a versatile group of players and they were constantly pumping each other up,” Shklyar said. “We could have easily came away with that match if a few more things went our way.”
The team’s schedule will not get any easier when it travels to Green Bay on Feb. 9. It will face another D-I opponent in UW-Green Bay, as well as Kenyon College. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s pre-season rankings have Kenyon ranked No. 2 in the country in D-3.
“The point of this is to get us prepared, and we have 10 ranked teams coming up,” Barnes said. “We have opportunities for some big wins, but we can’t let games slip away like we did.”
