MADISON, Wis. - Western Illinois men's tennis took on Wisconsin in their regular season opener on Saturday (Jan. 28). The No. 69 ranked Badgers earned the win over the Leathernecks 7-0.

Junior Patrick Hammers dropped set one 6-1 in No. 1 singles competition before battling back in set two, only to fall 7-5 to Fredrik Ask.

In No. 2 singles, senior Mandela Shepard was defeated by Petr Satral 6-1, 6-4. Sophomore Ben Yue made his singles competition debut as a Leatherneck at the No. 3 spot. He fell to Alex Robles 6-2, 6-4.

Senior Jim Capalbo and sophomore Justin Liss were both shut out (6-0, 6-0) in No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively.

"I felt we were a little intimidated in the first sets of the singles," head coach Chris Kane said. "When Wisconsin hit hard, we tried to hit harder. That just led to too many Leatherneck mistakes from attempting low-percentage shots. Our second sets in singles from our top three players were a different story. We followed our pre-match game plan and put many more balls in play. We forced longer rallies. Patrick Hammers lost 7-5 in a very well-played second set at No. 1 singles, Mandela Shepard lost 6-4 in his second set at No. 2 singles, and Ben Yue lost 6-4 in his second set at No. 3 singles. Wisconsin won those singles matches because they have very talented players. However, I was very pleased to put a little worry into the Wisconsin players' heads with our intelligent and impressive second set play."

In doubles competition, the No. 1 team of Hammers and Shepard and No. 2 team of Capalbo and Yue were each defeated 8-4.

Wisconsin won No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles by default.

The Leathernecks are back in competition on Saturday, Feb. 4 when they take on No. 63 Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. The dual is slated to begin at 10 a.m.