University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Faces Michigan State in Big Ten First Round
4/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Minnesota will take on Michigan State in its opening match as the Gophers begin Big Ten men's tennis tournament play on Thursday in Iowa City, Iowa.
The seventh-seeded Gophers enter the postseason at 6-16 overall and 4-6 in the Big Ten. They beat Michigan State 6-1 in their regular season meeting earlier this year, sweeping the six singles matches after the Spartans claimed the doubles point. Michigan State enters the weekend at 12-12 overall and 1-9 in league play. The match is set for 3 p.m. on Thursday.
The winner of the opening-round contest meets second-seeded Wisconsin in Friday's quarterfinals at 2 p.m. The Badgers emerged from a tiebreaker with Illinois, dropping the Illini to the third seed. Fourth-seeded Michigan and fifth-seeded Penn State also earned first round byes and meet in a quarterfinal on Friday at 10 a.m.
Other first round pairings have eighth-seeded and host Iowa facing ninth-seeded Purdue on Thursday at 9 a.m. and sixth-seeded Indiana meeting 11th-seeded Northwestern at noon.
The semifinals will be played Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with the championship match scheduled for Sunday at noon. The title match will be shown on the Big Ten Network tape delayed on Wed., May 7 at 7 p.m.
