Michigan
Indiana State
Wolverines Fall to Indiana State, Suffer First Home Loss
2/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 21), dropping a 5-2 match against No. 29-ranked Indiana State at the Varsity Tennis Center. The No. 35-ranked Wolverines (5-2) lost a close doubles point and could manage wins in only two of the six singles matches.
Indiana State grabbed the doubles with a pair of down-to-the-wire victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. Michigan junior co-captain Henry Beam (Kalamazoo, Mich./Loy Norrix HS) and sophomore Chris Shaya (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Saddlebrook Academy, Fla.) posted a commanding 8-1 victory over Jonas Piibor and Andres Intriago Sala at the No. 1 spot. The Sycamores won a 9-7 match at No. 3 and tallied a come-from-behind 9-7 win at No. 2. Indiana State's Verdan Vidovic and Lovre Brajkovic trailed 7-4 in the match at No. 3 before winning the final five points to clinch the team point.
The Sycamores proceeded to win four of the six singles matches, with Michigan's victories coming at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. Junior Danny McCain (Largo, Fla./Canterbury School) won an impressive 7-6, 6-3 match against Verdan Vidovic at the No. 3 spot. Beam, ranked 85th nationally in singles, registered a three-set win (7-6, 3-6, 6-3) over Piibor at the top singles spot to gain the Wolverines' final team point.
Michigan looks to end its two-match losing streak Saturday afternoon (Feb. 24, 3 p.m.) against Minnesota at the Varsity Tennis Center. The match will follow the women's tennis team's Big Ten Conference opener with Illinois, which begins at 11 a.m.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Henry Beam (U-M) d. Jonas Piibor, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3
No. 2 -- Stefan Hirn (ISU) d. Ben Cox, 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 -- Danny McCain (U-M) d. Verdan Vidovic, 7-6 (2), 6-3
No. 4 -- Lovre Brajkovic (ISU) d. Greg Novak, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 -- Henry Choi (ISU) d. Anthony Jackson, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 -- Andres Intriago Sala (ISU) d. Chris Shaya, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5
Doubles
No. 1 -- Beam/Shaya (U-M) d. Piibor/Intriago Sala, 8-1
No. 2 -- Vidovic/Brajkovic (ISU) d. McCain/Novak, 9-7
No. 3 -- Choi/Hirn (ISU) d. Cox/Jackson, 9-7
N O T E S
-- Henry Beam won his team-leading 15th singles match today. He has a 15-7 overall singles record and is 4-3 at the top spot in the lineup. Beam needs one singles victory for the 60th of his career (59-32).
-- Michigan lost its first home match of the season after opening the year with five consecutive victories at the Varsity Tennis Center (5-1). The Wolverines had won eight straight matches dating back to last year, with the last loss coming 4-3 to Purdue (April 9, 2000).
-- Freshman Anthony Jackson (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet HS) suffered his first losses of the dual match season today. Jackson won his first six matches in both singles and doubles and was the Wolverines' only remaining unbeaten dual match performer prior to the Indiana State match.
Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
