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Gophers Back on the Road against Huskers, Hawkeyes
3/11/2021 2:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Minnesota set for road doubleheader after 2-1 homestand
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 48 Gophers are heading back on the road for some doubleheader action this weekend after a short week last weekend which included a 5-2 Border Battle victory over the Wisconsin Badgers at Baseline Tennis
Minnesota (2-3) will first take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Friday, March 12 at 5:00pm, before taking a stop in Iowa City on the way home to square off against the No. 38 Iowa Hawkeyes in a pivotal ranked matchup.
Setting the Stage
The Maroon & Gold continue to show improvement as the season progresses, building off of their ranked win against Northwestern with a dominant 5-2 victory over the Badgers last Saturday.
Vlad Lobak and Siim Troost continue to impress in the No. 1 doubles slot, handling the Badgers No.1 pairing of Gabriel Huber and Robin Parts by a score of 6-3. The victory pushes the Gophers top pairing to 6-2 on the season.
Sebastian Vile also continued his strong start to the year with his third-straight singles victory this past weekend, this time defeating Wisconsin's Jesper Friermuth, 6-3, 6-2, to push his singles dual record to 4-1 on the season.
Tale of the Tape - The Cornhuskers
Nebraska (0-5) comes into the weekend, still searching for their first victory of the season, most recently dropping a pair of road matches against Illinois and Northwestern. Friday's match will not be the first time the Gophers have seen the Huskers this year, however, as the two teams did see each other at the Badger Invitational earlier in the season.
Minnesota has dominated the all-time series, going 8-2 in the ten meetings since Nebraka joined the B1G conference. The Cornhuskers did win the most recent meeting, defeating the Gophers by a score of 4-3 on March 24, 2019.
Tale of the Tape - The Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes (3-4) are also bouncing off of two losses against Illinois and Northwestern, but still find themselves No. 38 in the polls, being led by the No. 38 singles player in Kareem Allaf, as well as the 17th-ranked and undefeated doubles pairing of Will Davies and Oliver Okonkwo.
The Gophers are 59-37-3 against rival Iowa, with their last win in the series coming on March 23, 2018, where Minnesota defeated the Hawkeyes in Iowa City 4-3.
How to Follow Along:
Follow along on Twitter at @GopherMTennis for live updates throughout the weekend, and look for a recap following this weekend's action on GopherSports.com.