University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Ready for Two in Cambridge
2/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - After a one-week hiatus from match play, the No. 34 Minnesota men's tennis team will head to Cambridge, Mass. to play a neutral-site contest against No. 23 Vanderbilt and a road match versus No. 25 Harvard. Entering the weekend with a five-match win streak and with a record of 7-1, the Gophers play the Commodores Friday at noon CT and the weekend host Crimson Saturday at the same time.
ABOUT VANDERBILT
Starting the week at 7-2, Vanderbilt has gone 2-1 against teams from the Big Ten. The Commodores registered 4-3 wins over Indiana and Michigan and dropped a decision to Northwestern by the same score. VU's lineup boasts the eighth-ranked singles player in the nation in Gonzales Austin, who is 5-0 at No. 1 on the spring. Austin is also a part of the second-ranked doubles duo with Rhys Johnson. Together, they are 3-1 in the No. 1 singles flight.
ABOUT HARVARD
Harvard, like Minnesota has found early-season success. The Crimson is off to a 7-2 start that saw the team win the ECAC Team Championships with victories over Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth last week. No. 91-ranked Denis Nguyen is 4-3 at the No. 1 singles spot, while 80th-ranked Sebastian Beltrame is 3-1 at position Nos. 2 and 3. The No. 15-rated doubles team of Nguyen and Brian Yeung has gone 6-2 in the top singles flight.
ALL-TIME SERIES
All-time, Minnesota is 1-1 versus Vanderbilt and 1-3 against Harvard. The last time the Gophers and Commodores met, Vanderbilt earned a 7-0 win in Athens, Ga. as a part of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Crimson edged the Maroon and Gold, 4-3, at the Baseline Tennis Center last February.
DOMINANT DOUBLES
The Maroon and Gold's doubles play has been a big part of its hot start. The Gophers have won the doubles competition in all eight of their matches and have a 16-1 cumulative doubles record on the spring.
GOPHERS IN THE RANKINGS
After finishing 2013-14 ranked 54th and opening 2015 at No. 49 in the ITA national rankings, the Gophers moved up to 33rd following a 6-1 start and dropped to 34th after a week off. Individually, Leandro Toledo ranks 25th in singles and the fourth-year doubles duo of Jack Hamburg and Mathieu Froment ranks 52nd after upsetting then-No. 12 Jacob Sude and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State to kick off February. They were an NCAA Doubles Tournament alternate pairing a year ago.
FRESH IMPACT
Minnesota freshman Felix Corwin and Matic Spec have combined for a 32-5 record in singles--including a 12-1 mark in the spring--and a 22-7 doubles record. Spec entered the dual match season ranked 107th nationally in singles, while Corwin is No. 117 in singles and No. 58 in doubles when paired with senior Leandro Toledo.
TOLEDO EARNS B1G HONOR
Senior Leandro Toledo was named the Big Ten Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week for the fourth time in his career two weeks ago. That week, the No. 17-ranked Toledo defeated three ranked singles opponents--No. 77 Michael Tenzer of Green Bay, No. 65 Dovydas Sakinis of Dartmouth and No. 98 Jakob Sude of Oklahoma State. He now has five wins over ranked opponents as a senior and 20 in his career. He is 6-1 at the No. 1 singles position this spring.
The three-time all-conference selection and 2014 All-American also won his lone doubles match to finish, taking down Aman Agarwal and Brendan Tannenbaum of Dartmouth alongside partner Felix Corwin. Individually, Toledo is 6-0 in spring doubles matches following another win against Wisconsin.
HOW THE SCORING WORKS
No-ad scoring will be used in both singles and doubles. Three doubles matches will be played to begin the dual. Each match is one set to six, with a tiebreak at six-all. The first team to earn two doubles wins earns one team point. Doubles play will followed by six singles matches (best two of three sets--tie-breaks at six-all). Each singles match is worth one team point.
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Players Mentioned
