University of Minnesota Athletics
Top 25 Clash Set for Friday in Seattle
3/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
A top 25 men's tennis showdown is set for Friday in Seattle when 24th-ranked Minnesota takes on 22nd-ranked Washington.
The Gophers are 10-1 overall and riding their longest winning streak since 2003 with eight straight victories, while Washington enters Saturday’s match at 8-4 with all four losses coming to teams in the top 30, including third-ranked Ohio State and fourth-ranked Georgia. Minnesota is 5-1 against ranked teams with the only setback coming against 16th-ranked Louisville. Friday’s match starts at 4 p.m. Pacific time at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
Minnesota’s Ishay Hadash is coming off a big win over current 13th-ranked player Enrique Olivares of East Tennessee State, earning him Big Ten Player of the Week accolades. Hadash, who is 12-5 overall and ranked 48th in the country, faces another top-notch foe this week in Washington’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who is 13-4 overall and ranked 46th nationally.
Dino Bilankov has battled injuries this season, but has won all five of his singles matches during the dual meet season to run his overall season record to 11-3. Tobias Wernet has three straight singles wins and is 16-4 overall, including 9-1 in the dual meet season at No. 2 singles.
In doubles, Hadash and Phillip Arndt have won eight straight matches and boast a 10-1 overall record and No. 80 national ranking. Wernet and Michael Sicora have played the majority of their matches at the No. 1 position and are ranked 48th in the country with a 12-4 record. Washington’s doubles tandem of Nedunchezhiyan and Patrik Fischer is ranked 66th, though the pair hasn’t played together since last fall.
The Gophers and Huskies have met eight times previously with each team winning four times. Minnesota won the last encounter 5-2 in 2007 in Minneapolis.
Players Mentioned
