University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Hosting South Florida, Wisconsin
2/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Live Video/Scoring
The No. 23 University of Minnesota Gophers have another tough weekend ahead as they host No. 13 South Florida and No. 74 Wisconsin at the Baseline Tennis Center.
They are set to take on South Florida at 6 p.m. Friday and Wisconsin at 4 p.m. Sunday.
The Wisconsin match will be the first Big Ten match of the year for Minnesota as they look to defend their Big Ten regular season title. The Gophers went 10-1 in the B1G last year including a 4-1 win at Wisconsin.
The young Gophers squad comes into this weekend 2-2 overall. They topped DePaul and South Dakota State both 7-0 to open the season. They fell to two ITA top-25 teams in their next two matches against Columbia and Oklahoma State.
The Lineup
Matic Spec has played in the No. 1 spot in three of the Gophers four matches going 2-1 and is 5-3 on the season.
Felix Corwin has played in the No. 2 spot with one match in the No. 1 spot. He currently sits No. 101 in the ITA singles rankings and has a 7-4 overall record.
Ruben Weber is No. 95 in singles and has a team leading 8-4 singles record. He has played three matches at the No. 3 spot in dual season.
Freshmen Justyn Levin and Josip Krstanovic have both played in the No. 4 and 5 spots with Krstanovic also getting a match at the No. 3 spot. Levin is 1-1 in both spots and has a 7-6 overall singles record this season. Krstanovic joined the team for the spring season and is 2-2 in singles so far.
Another freshman in Marino Alpeza has gotten matches in at the No. 5 and 6 spot and is 6-5 this season. Jeremy Lynn grabbed a win at the No. 6 spot.
Best at Baseline
Minnesota comes into the weekend with a 16 match win streak at home. The last time they lost there was on April 6, 2014 after going undefeated there last season. They are set to the host the Big Ten Tournament there this season.
Doubles Point
The Gophers have taken the doubles point in three of their four matches so far this season. Columbia was the only match they did not take it but still won a doubles match.
Minnesota boasts the Big Ten's top ranked doubles tandem in Spec and Corwin who are coming off a big win together. For the second time this season they topped the No. 9 ranked doubles team of Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash.
About South Florida
No. 13 South Florida is 2-0 on the year after defeating No. 30 LSU and No. 31 FSU at the ITA Kick-Off. The ranking is the highest in program history.
During the ITA Kick-Off, No. 17 Roberto Cid took down two top 25 opponents helping lead USF to its first-ever berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships and was named the American Conference player of the week.
About Wisconsin
No. 74 Wisconsin is 4-0 on the season under first-year head coach Danny Westerman. Of the four wins, one of them was against No. 34 Princeton. Over the weekend, the Badgers won all 14 sets against South Dakota State and Valparaiso.
Josef Dodridge has a 12-8 overall record and a 3-1 dual meet record all at the No. 1 spot to lead the Badgers this season. Alexander Kokorev is 12-3 and has not lost a match playing in the No. 2 spot during dual meet season. Dodridge has teamed up with Lamar Remy in the No. 1 doubles spot in all four matches and are 4-0 together.
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Players Mentioned
