University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Michigan, MSU
4/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Michigan Live Scoring/Video |
The 32nd-ranked Minnesota men's tennis team will finish its regular-season road schedule this week when it travels to Michigan and Michigan State. The Gophers, who enter the weekend with a 15-6 record that includes a 6-1 mark in the Big Ten, will play the Wolverines Saturday at 11 a.m. CT and the Spartans Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
ABOUT THE WOLVERINES
Michigan will go into Saturday's match with a 4-14 record. The Wolverines, 1-6 in conference play, snapped a nine-match losing streak Wednesday with a 4-3 win over in-state rival Michigan State. Though Alex Petrone has played 11 matches at the No. 1 position, Michael Zhu has led the way for the team in singles with a 7-5 mark at No. 2 and played at No. 1 in the team's last match. Petrone and Zhu are 5-7 together at the top doubles position and are ranked 72nd nationally.
ABOUT THE SPARTANS
Michigan State, which hosts Wisconsin in Saturday in its first match of the weekend, is 11-13 on the year with a 2-5 ledger in Big Ten competition. Gijs Linders is 8-12 at the No. 1 singles position, while Brett Forman is 9-9 at the second spot. In doubles Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane are 13-4 as a duo and are ranked 21st in the country. They are 6-3 in the No. 1 flight.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Michigan holds a 48-30-1 advantage in the all-time series, but the Gophers have defeated the Maize and Blue in five of the teams' last six meetings, including earlier this season at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Austin, Texas. Minnesota has won 19-straight matches against Michigan State dating back to the 1999 season.
HOME AND AWAY
The Baseline Tennis Center has not been an easy place to play for visitors. In the eight-plus seasons under Geoff Young, the Gophers are 69-25 at home, good for a .734 winning percentage. Since the current senior class arrived on campus, Minnesota has a home record of 34-7 (.829 winning percentage) that includes a 10-0 ledger this season. On the road, the Maroon and Gold is 3-5 this season. It won its last match away from home last Sunday at Penn State.
AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
With a win last Sunday over then-No. 49 Penn State, Gophers improved to 9-6 against ranked foes on the season. All five of its losses have come against top-25 teams.
DOMINATING IN DOUBLES
Fueling Minnesota's 15-6 start has been its success in doubles. The Gophers have won the doubles competition in 17 of its first 21 matches and have a 36-14 cumulative doubles record on the spring. No. 53-ranked Jack Hamburg and Mathieu Froment have combined to be the primary tandem at the No. 1 position, going 8-7. No. 57 Leandro Toledo and Felix Corwin are 13-1 on the spring and are 16-2 overall as a duo, while Eric Frueh and Matic Spec are 9-6 in dual matches.
GOPHERS IN THE RANKINGS
After finishing 2013-14 ranked 54th and opening 2015 at No. 49 in the ITA national rankings, the Gophers are 32nd after going 15-6 with a challenging schedule that has featured 15 ranked opponents. Individually, 2014 All-American Leandro Toledo ranks 23rd in singles and 57th in doubles alongside freshman Felix Corwin. Seniors Jack Hamburg and Mathieu Froment are No. 53 together in doubles. Freshman Matic Spec started the season ranked 107th in singles and dropped out of the top-125, but is now at No. 97 following a 16-2 spring start.
FRESHMAN IMPACT
Minnesota freshmen Felix Corwin and Matic Spec have combined for a 50-9 record in singles--including a 30-5 mark in the spring--and a 35-14 doubles record. Spec entered the dual match season ranked 107th nationally in singles and is now No. 97, while Corwin was No. 117 in singles and is currently No. 57 in doubles when paired with senior Leandro Toledo. Corwin and Toledo were once as high as 48th.
HOW THE SCORING WORKS
Three doubles matches will be played to begin the dual. Each match is an eight-game pro-set with traditional (ad) scoring and a tiebreak at seven-all. The team to earn at least two doubles wins earns one team point. Doubles play will be followed by six singles matches (best two of three sets with tiebreakers at six-all). Each singles match is worth one team point.
Players Mentioned
