University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Prepare for Border Battle
2/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
It is border battle weekend for the No. 56 University of Minnesota Gophers as they to Madison, Wis. to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. They will also play a neutral site match against No. 66 Utah.
The Gophers have won five straight against rival Wisconsin going back to 2012. They will be looking for their first win in program history over Utah as they are 0-4 all-time against the Utes.
Minnesota is 6-3 on the year coming off a tough 7-0 loss to now No. 31 Dartmouth. They are 5-1 at home this season, 1-1 on neutral court and 0-1 when the away team.
The Lineup
The Maroon and Gold have showed depth all season with nine different players having wins ranging from eight to 11.
Caroline Ryba and Julia Courter have both played matches at the No. 1 spot. Courter has not lost at No. 1 and is 9-6 on the season while Ryba is 8-6 overall. Courter has also played five matches at the No. 2 pot.
Paula Rincon Otero and Annemarie Emme combined for three matches at the No. 2 spot and have not lost there. Rincon has primarily played at No. 3 while Emme has seen action at 2-5 this season. Rincon is 10-4 while Emme is 10-11 this year.
Jessika Mozia is 21 at the No. 4 and 3-1 at the No. 5 this year with an 8-6 overall record. Mehvish Safdar and Camila Vargas Gomez have also gotten a match each in at the No. 4 spot. Safdar, Vargas Gomez along with Maja Vujic have all gotten action at No. 5 and Caitlyn Merzbacher, Vargas Gomez, Vujic and Safdar have all won at the No. 6.
Safdar leads the team in wins with 11 while Vujic has 10, Vargas Homez has nine and Merzbacher has eight.
Doubles
Minnesota has won the doubles point in seven of their nine matches this season. Rincon and Emme are 6-2 together at the No. 1 spot this dual match season. Courter and Ryba have combined for a 4-1 record while Merzbacher is 7-5 with Mozia and 4-1 with Safdar.
About Wisconsin and Utah
The Badgers are 3-4 on the season but have played some of the top teams in the country taking losses to No. 6 California, No. 9 Texas A & M, No. 30 Fresno State and No. 10 Texas Tech.
The Badger are led by Lauren Chypyha with a 20-3 overall record. Kendall Kirsch, Kelsey Grambeau and Lauren Burich all have hit double digits in wins as well. All four of those players took part in the Gopher Invite this fall.
The Utes come into the weekend 5-3 overall. They recently lost 5-2 to New Mexico who the Gophers topped at the Courtside Classic at the start of the month.
Milestone Watch
Coach Chuck Merzbacher reached 400 career victories with the win over New Mexico at the Courtside Classic this season. Courter is now at 75 career singles wins tied for 12th all-time in Minnesota history while Mozia is tied for 20th all-time with 72 singles victories. Courter's 67 doubles wins has her 19th while Mozia sits with 65 wins and is 21st on the Gopher career doubles win list.
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Players Mentioned
