University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Set for Big Ten Tournament
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Tournament Central | Bracket
EVANSTON, Ill.- The eighth-seeded Minnesota women's tennis team opens Big Ten Tournament play Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill. against No. 9 seed Michigan State. The winner of the match will play top-seeded Michigan Friday.
ABOUT THE SPARTANS
Michigan State enters the tournament with a 16-8 record and 5-6 conference mark. The Spartans started 5-0 in league action, but ended the regular season with six-straight losses. Erin Faulkner is 13-10 at No. 1 singles and is 4-6 at No. 1 doubles withAthena Trouillot.MSU's freshman classhas put together a combined record of 57-32 in singles play this season.
AGAINST MICHIGAN STATE
Minnesota is27-14 all-time against Michigan State after dropping a tightly-contested 4-3 decision in East Lansing earlier in the season.
LAST YEAR IN THE TOURNAMENT
Last season, the Gophers won their Big Ten Tournament opener against Wisconsin, 4-3, before falling 4-0 to Ohio State in the quarterfinal round.
LAMBERT MOVING UP
Senior Aria Lambert has won 14 of her last 19 singles matches and is 17-7 on the spring at four different positions. The Deephaven, Minn. native now has 79-career singles wins to her credit, the 10th-most in program history. She also hit the 20-win plateau for the third time with a straight-set defeat of Nebraska's Katerina Matysova earlier in April
A GOOD PARTNER
Redshirt junior Julia Courter has stood out in doubles this season. She is 21-9 on the season with a 16-6 mark in the spring, playing alongside classmates Paula Rincon-Otero and Jessika Mozia. With a 6-3 win over South Dakota's Tacy Haws-Lay and Beatriz Souza alongside Mozia earlier in the year, Courter hit the 50-career win plateau in doubles. Now at 59-career doubles wins, she is nationally ranked with Rincon-Otero.
POSITIVE FIRST IMPRESSION
Freshman Caroline Ryba has been one of the top players on Minnesota's team this season. A recent six-match winning streak and wins against opponents from Rutgers, Maryland and Iowa at the No. 2 position helped push the Glenview, Ill. native's spring record to 14-7.
UP AND COMING
The 2015 edition of the Gopher women's tennis team has been building upon a successful 2014 campaign. Last year, the Gophers posted their highest win total since 2003 at 17. After beginning last season unranked, the Maroon and Gold climbed as high at 55th en route to a seven-win improvement from the previous season. This season, the Maroon and Gold began the year at No. 71 and has since moved up to No. 54. They also matched their 2014 Big Ten win total with six wins, which was their highest total since 2003.
HOW THE SCORING WORKS
For Big Ten play, three doubles matches will be played to begin the dual. Each match is a one-game pro set to eight, with a tiebreak at seven-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. Traditional (ad) scoring is in effect for conference play.
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Players Mentioned
