University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Set for Big Ten Tournament
4/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Big Ten Tournament Preview | Tournament Bracket
Minneapolis, Minn. -The No. 38-ranked University of Minnesota men's tennis team will begin their postseason run this Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers earned the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten and will play the No. 9-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in a rematch of last Sunday's competition. After falling to Purdue in the first round of last year's tournament, Minnesota looks to carry its momentum from Sunday's victory into the tournament.
About the Tournament
The Maroon & Gold will battle the Hoosiers at 8 a.m. central time on April 27 in a match that will kick off the tournament. Thursday's winner will battle top-seeded Ohio State the following day at 8 a.m. central time for a chance to advance to the tournament semifinals. The Buckeyes, along with No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Illinois, and No. 4 Wisconsin all earned first-round byes as they held the best conference records at the end of the regular season.
The Big Ten Tournament is single-elimination and will be played from April 27 through April 30. All tournament matches will be played at the Schwartz Tennis Center, home to the Purdue Boilermakers. Big Ten Network will debut live coverage of the championship match on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.central time.
The Last Meeting
On Sunday, the Gophers took down the Hoosiers 4-3 in the regular season finale at Baseline Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point in a tie-breaker of the deciding set, Minnesota bounced back and picked up four singles wins for the match victory.
Stefan Milicevic was the first to earn a point for the Gophers, as he won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles for his 15th dual-match singles victory of the season. Then No. 68 Matic Spec also won his match at No. 2 singles by a score of 6-2, 6-4.
Tied 2-2, the final three matches of the day each headed to a third set in which the Maroon & Gold won two of them. Justyn Levin was victorious at No. 6 singles as he won 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Felix Corwin, who leads the team with 16 dual-match singles wins, clinched the fourth point for Minnesota as he won a three-set thriller 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. After winning two breaks late in the second game, the junior would go on to win the tiebreaker and third set to secure the victory for his team.
Gophers in the Rankings
Minnesota is currently ranked No. 38 in the latest ITA National Rankings. Spec comes in at No. 70 in singles, while no doubles pairs are currently ranked for Minnesota.
About Indiana
The Hoosiers are not ranked as a team, but the doubles pair of Keivon Tabrizi and Raheel Manji come in at No. 79. Indiana is 13-12 overall and 4-7 in conference play.
You can follow all of the action this year on the Gophers' Facebook, Twitter, and Instragram.
Players Mentioned
