University of Minnesota Athletics
Weber, Saxon Set for Senior Day
4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The University of Minnesota Gophers have their last home matches in the regular season this weekend as No. 3 Ohio State and No. 39 Penn State come to town.
They take on the Buckeyes at 3 p.m. Friday and the Nittany Lions at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
The Gophers are coming off their first B1G win of the season after topping Michigan State 4-0 at home this past Sunday.
Senior Day
Tucker Saxon and Ruben Weber will be celebrated this Sunday on senior day for their accomplishments and everything they have gave to the University of Minnesota men's tennis program.
Saxon, Dellwood, Minn. native, has been a part of many great Gophers moments in his career. In his time the Gophers advanced to three NCAA Tournaments and last year won the first Big Ten title in 20 years.
Saxon comes into this weekend with eight singles and eight doubles victories. He is a two time Academic All-Big Ten honoree double majoring in business and marketing education with a minor in international business.
Weber, Alzey, Germany native, has helped the Gophers to two NCAA appearances and a B1G title in his Gopher career. He has 64 singles wins and 20 doubles wins in his collegiate career often playing in some of the top singles spots and improving his record every season.
Weber is a past winner of the Jerry Noyce/Nike Most Improved Player award and a two time Academic All-Big Ten honoree majoring in actuarial sciences.
B1G Time Spec
Matic Spec won his second career B1G Athlete of the Week award this week after capturing three wins at the No. 1 spot a weekend ago.
He partnered with Felix Corwin in a 6-1 win over Michigan State along with a 5-3 lead against 39th-ranked Michigan's Alex Knight and Runhao Hua, a match that went unfinished. The duo is ranked No. 26 together.
In singles he took a 6-3, 6-4 upset win over Michigan's Jathan Malik, ranked No. 75.
On Sunday against the Spartans, Spec defeated Mac Roy (6-3, 6-2) to help lead the Gophers to their first conference win of the season.
The Lineup
Spec has competed in 19 completed matches in the No. 1 spot going 10-8 and has a 14-10 record on the year. He has picked up big wins against ranked teams in No. 21 Michigan, No. 40 Dartmouth, No. 45 Washington and No. 56 Iowa. He is 6-3 in his last 10 matches with one going unfinished.
Weber leads the team with a 16-10 overall record. He has completed 14 matches at the No. 2 spot going 8-6 there.
Felix Corwin has played at least one match at spots 1-5 this season. He is 10-11 overall this year. He started the fall ranked and went 5-2 but has been hampered by an injury this spring.
Freshmen Justyn Levin and Josip Krstanovic have both played in the No. 3, 4 and 5 spots. Levin has an 11-13 overall singles record this season. Krstanovic joined the team for the spring season, holding a record of 5-12.
Another freshman in Marino Alpeza has gotten matches in at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots and is 11-15 this season. Jeremy Lynn has grabbed four wins at the No. 6 spot this season and is 4-7 there.
Doubles
Corwin and Sec paired up for the first time since late January this past weekend. They are the No. 26 ranked doubles pair with an 8-3 record together
Weber and Alpeza has played 14 matches together at the No. 1 spot and 19 overall. They are 8-11 together.
Lynn and Spec have played nine matches together at No. 2 and two at No. 3 holding a 7-5 record together this season, all in dual match play. They won in their last completed match.
Krstanovic is 7-6 this season in doubles play holding a 6-4 record with Levin and is 1-1 with Corwin. Levin and Lynn picked up a win together this past weekend.
No. 3 Ohio State
The No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes are 23-2 and 7-0 in conference play. Their only losses come from North Carolina and Georgia. The Buckeyes are currently riding a seven-game win streak.
Ohio State boasts four ranked individual players and three ranked doubles pairs on its roster. Sophomore Mikael Torpegaard is ranked No. 2 in the nation, with a 23-2 record this season. Hugo Di Feo, a redshirt freshman, is ranked No. 36, holding a 17-6 record. Chris Diaz is ranked No. 87, with a 13-11 record. Diaz did not play in the match against Purdue last weekend. Herkko Pollanen is ranked No. 92 holding a record of 15-7. Lastly, the Buckeyes have three different ranked doubles pairs, with Pollanen and Torpegaard ranked No. 18, Ralf Steinbach and Martin Joyce ranked No. 33, and Torpegaard and Joyce ranked No. 78.
No. 39 Penn State
The No. 39 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions are 18-5 and 4-3 in conference play. Penn State was swept by Indiana 4-0 last weekend. Before that, they were riding a four-game win streak.
The Nittany Lions hold one ranked player in their roster, senior Matt Berry at No. 123, who holds a 18-8 record this season. The doubles pair of Christian Lutschaunig and David Kohan have played at the No. 1 spot all season, defending a 17-11 record.
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Players Mentioned
