University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Pepperdine
Players Mentioned
Maroon & Gold Come Up Short Against Pepperdine
2/23/2020 5:11:00 PM | Men's Tennis
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Gopher men's tennis team fell in a tightly contested non conference matchup on Sunday against the Pepperdine University Waves with a final score of 5-2.
While entering today's match unranked, Pepperdine now holds a perfect 8-0 record on the spring season so far. Today's loss gives the Gophers a record of 6-3 heading into a bye week.
Despite the team loss, both Stefan Milicevic and Vlad Lobak were able to earn their third consecutive wins in singles play in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the Maroon & Gold, with Milicevic's win coming against ranked opponent Corrado Summaria.
Doubles Competition
Pepperdine proved to be a challenge right away for the Gophers in doubles play, as the Waves captured the doubles point on the day by winning the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches. The Maroon & Gold's No. 3 doubles duo of Eli Ogilvy and Sebastian Vile were the first to finish their match on the day, winning by a score of 6-1. The Minnesota pairings of Vlad Lobak/Siim Troost and Stefan Milicevic/Jackson Allen both ended up falling in tightly contested matches by scores of 6-4 and 7-5 respectively, putting the Gophers down one early to their non conference opponent.
Singles Competition
Despite dropping the opening doubles point, as well as the No. 6 singles match on the day, the Maroon & Gold didn't let an early deficit deter them from climbing back into the match. Junior Vlad Lobak got the Gophers on the board first with a 6-0, 6-4 win in the No. 2 singles spot, and senior Stefan Milicevic earned his second consecutive ranked victory over 69th-ranked Corrado Summaria 6-4, 6-2 to tie the match up at two apiece.
Unfortunately for the Gophers, the comeback would stop there as Siim Troost, Jackson Allen, and Eli Ogilvy each fell in hardfought singles matches. Both Troost and Ogilvy went on to play third sets in their respective matches, while Allen dropped his match in straight sets by a score of 7-6(4), 7-5.
Notable
Gophers junior Vlad Lobak, who currently has a three match win streak in the No. 2 singles position for the Maroon & Gold, has earned an official UTR rating of 13.02 as of this week. With this rating, Lobak now ranks as the highest rated collegiate tennis player from Ukraine in the nation.
Quotable
"Pepperdine is a good team and played more aggressive than us today," head coach Geoff Young said. "They deserve it. We have a weekend off coming up and will work hard to prepare for Washington."
Up Next
The Maroon & Gold will have a bye this coming weekend before having to play a pair of matches to kick off the month of March. Following their week off, the Gophers will travel to the University of Washington to play the Huskies on Friday, March 6 starting at 7:00 p.m. CST. Minnesota will then travel back to Baseline, where they will take on the Wisconsin Badgers in their conference opener on Sunday, March 8 at 12:00 p.m. CST.