University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Closing Regular Season
4/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The University of Minnesota Gophers close out their regular season on the road with matches against the No. 59 Purdue University Boilermakers and the No. 64 Indiana University Hoosiers.
The Gophers play Purdue at 6 p.m. Friday and Indiana on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Maroon and Gold are 8-15 overall and sit in tenth place in the B1G coming off an upset win over No. 39 Penn State. Next weekend they will host the four day Big Ten Tournament.
Spec-tacular
Matic Spec has been on a roll as of late winning his last three completed matches and is 6-2 in his last ten matches played with two going unfinished. He was also up on the No. 2 player in the nation against Ohio State before that match went unfinished. He is 15-10 overall and recently won a Big Ten Athlete of the Week award. He is also ranked No. 25 in doubles with Felix Corwin as his partner.
The Lineup
Spec is 11-8 at the No. 1 spot playing all but one match there.
Ruben Weber has played all but two matches at the No. 2 spot and leads the team in wins with 16 holding a 16-11 overall record.
Corwin has been all over the lineup playing 1-5 at different times this season. He has returned to form as of late after missing some time with an injury and is 11-11 overall on the year.
The freshmen trio of Justyn Levin, Marino Alpeza and Josip Krstanovic have all seen action at spots 3-6 this dual match season. Levin and Alpeza each have 12 wins on the year and Krstanovic who joined the team in January has five victories.
Jeremy Lynn has picked up four wins playing at the No. 6 spot.
Doubles
Corwin and Spec have returned to action together at the top of the doubles lineup and wasted no time regaining their chemistry together. The duo is 9-3 on the season and have own their last three completed matches. While being limited in dual match play they are 3-1 together all at the No. 1 spot.
Spec had partnered with Lynn while Corwin was missing action and the duo went 7-5 together. Weber and Alpeza have competed in 21 matches together this season, more than any other tandem on the Gophers team.
Freshmen Krstanovic and Levin are 6-4 together in dual match play.
Purdue
No 59 ranked Purdue is 14-9 overall and 3-6 in conference play. The Boilermakers defeated No. 67 Iowa before falling to Nebraska last weekend.
Purdue holds two nationally ranked players on its roster. No. 44 ranked Gergely Madrarasz leads the team at No. 1 singles and is defending a 16-3 record there. No. 84 ranked Benjamin Ugarte has played at No. 2 singles for all but one match, earning an 11-3 record there. His last six matches have gone unfinished.
Indiana
No. 64 ranked Indiana is 9-14 overall and 4-5 in conference play. The Hoosiers are on a four-game win streak after defeating Nebraska and sweeping Iowa last weekend. The win bumped up Indiana from No. 70 to No. 64 in the ITA rankings.
Nol. 62 ranked Sam Monette leads the team at No. 1 singles and doubles. He holds a singles record of 20-10, and a 16-11 record with Daniel Bednarczyk in doubles play.
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Players Mentioned
