University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
2020 Spring Season Recap
3/31/2020 2:38:00 PM | Men's Tennis
On March 12, 2020, the University of Minnesota men's tennis team's spring dual season saw itself come to a sudden end, when the Big Ten and NCAA announced they were ceasing competitions and championships because of COVID-19 public health concerns.
Despite it not being the ending to the season that anyone imagined, the 2020 spring season for the Gophers is still one to remember. Join us in highlighting the best moments of our shortened season, as we celebrate the achievements of the 2019-2020 Gopher men's tennis team.
Saturday, January 18 vs. Marquette University - Playing at the Rochester Athletic Club, the Maroon & Gold kicked off the year 2020 with a season-opening match against the Golden Eagles of Marquette. In a highly contested match all the way through, the Gophers were able to fight off Marquette with singles victories by Vlad Lobak, Siim Troost, Jackson Allen, and Bodin Zarkovic, starting their spring season off with a record of 1-0. This match also served as a homecoming of sorts for Sebastian Vile, who was able to earn his first doubles win of the spring season in his hometown of Rochester.
Friday, January 31 vs. Auburn University - Entering the match holding a record of 2-1 so far in the spring season, the Maroon & Gold were looking to make some noise entering a difficult weekend of play. In their first match of the season at Baseline Tennis Center, the Gophers were tasked with taking on the 5-0 Auburn Tigers. Despite Auburn's flawless record entering the day, as well as the Tigers capturing the match's doubles point to start the day off, the team was able to put together an undefeated showing in singles play, sweeping their way to a 6-1 win over Auburn.
Sunday, February 2 vs. University of Alabama - Riding their momentum of defeating an undefeated Auburn team on Friday, the Gophers now had to shift their mindset to play another SEC opponent in Alabama, who entered their match with the Gophers as the No. 26 ranked team in the nation. With the team seeing themselves down 3-1 to the Crimson Tide, Minnesota needed to pull out some late match heroics if they were to see themselves have a perfect weekend at Baseline Tennis Center. Singles wins by Stefan Milicevic and Bodin Zarkovic were able to level the score at 3-3, and Gophers junior Jackson Allen, in a comeback of his own, sealed the 4-3 victory for the Maroon & Gold.
Saturday, February 15 vs. UC Santa Barbara - Now holding a record of 5-2, the Gophers returned to Baseline following a pair of road matches against Ivy League opponents Dartmouth and Yale. Against a very difficult UCSB squad, Minnesota was able to secure their third 7-0 sweep of the season against the Gauchos. The highlight of the match went to senior Stefan Milicevic, as he fought his way to a ranked singles win against Joseph Guillin of UC Santa Barbara, who was at the time the No. 8 ranked singles player in the nation according to the ITA. With their win against the Gauchos, the Gophers launched themselves up into the rankings for the first time of the season, holding what would be a season-high position of No. 29 in the country. Senior Eli Ogilvy also captured a singles victory on the day, marking his 50th career singles victory with the team.
Tuesday, February 25 - Stefan Milicevic is named Big Ten Athlete of the Week following back to back ranked singles victories against No. 8 ranked Joseph Guillin of UCSB and No. 69 ranked Corrado Summaria of Pepperdine. Milicevic, who earned his 80th career singles victory against Summaria on Sunday, propels himself up the ITA singles rankings, positioning himself as the No. 67 ranked singles player in the nation. This marked the first time a Gopher had won this award since Matic Spec in 2017.
Sunday, March 8 vs. University of Wisconsin - In what would turn out to be the final match of the Maroon & Gold's season, the Gophers hosted the Wisconsin Badgers for a Border Battle at Baseline Tennis Center. After securing a doubles point thanks to wins by the pairings of Siim Troost/Vlad Lobak and Stefan Milicevic/Jackson Allen, the team pulled away from Badgers and finished their season with a 5-2 victory over Wisconsin. The Border Battle victory marked head coach Geoff Young's 200th career head coaching victory with the Maroon & Gold, making him only the third men's tennis coach in Gophers history to reach that mark.
While the 2020 season didn't have a storybook ending, the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and fans is paramount. Thank you Gophers for all of your support of the 2019-2020 team this season, and we look forward to seeing you for our first serve of the 2020 fall season.