Over the weekend, the SMU men’s tennis team was forced to settle for a split, falling to No. 25 Wisconsin, 4-0, before easily defeating the University of Chicago at Illinois, 6-1.
 

In their first match against the Wisconsin Badgers, junior Artem Baradach went toe-to-toe with No. 20 Marek Michalika. The match was called due to time restraints. Before it was called, Baradach was up a set and trailing in the second by a single game (7-6 (8-6), 5-6).
 

The same thing happened in two other matches. Junior David Costa and freshman Pablo Perez-Espanaola also had their matches called due to time restraints. Like Baradach, Costa was in the lead against Wisconsin’s Patrick Pohlmann (7-6 (9-7), 4-4) and had a good chance of winning the match in the second set.
 

The second match of the day against the UIC Flames gave SMU more trouble, in comparison to the Badgers. The Mustangs swept through the doubles matches, winning all three to earn the point.
 

In singles, the Mustangs won all but one match. Nate Kirk of UIC defeated SMU senior Bryan Griffin in three sets (6-4 (2-6), 10-2) for the Flames’ lone point. No other match went farther than two sets, and junior Darren Walsh had just won the first set when his opponent was forced to retire. The Mustangs return home to host Lamar University on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Turpin Tennis Center.