Michigan
ITA National Indoors (Day 2)
Hung, Heller Reach Semifinals at ITA National Indoors
11/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- For the just the second time in the 26-year history of the National Intercollegiate Indoor Tennis Championships, a doubles pair from the University of Michigan men's tennis team will make an appearance in the tournament's semifinals. Sophomores Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) and Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) earned a convincing 8-2 victory over North Carolina's No. 32-ranked tandem of Geoff Boyd and Brad Pomeroy in the quarterfinals Friday (Nov. 5) to advance.
Hung and Heller, a wildcard entry in the 16-team doubles draw, will meet No. 1-ranked KC Corkery and Sam Warburg of Stanford tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 6) in the semifinals at 10 a.m. at the Varsity Tennis Center. Corkery and Warburg, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, defeated Illinois' Ryler DeHeart and G.D. Jones 8-4 in their quarterfinal match this morning.
In consolation singles action, senior Michael Rubin (Canton, Ohio/Canton Central Catholic HS) suffered a three-set defeat to Baylor's Lars Poerschke in the first round. After dropping the first set 6-0, Rubin battled back to even the match with a 6-3 win in the second frame. Poerschke proved to be too strong, taking the third set 6-1 to eliminate Rubin from the tournament.
Hung also lost his opening-round consolation match, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Oklahoma's Marek Velicka.
Q U O T E S
U-M Assistant Coach Michael Kosta
On the play of Hung and Heller ... "They played much sharper than they played yesterday. They took advantage of their opportunities when they were given them. They maintained the lead very well by sticking to the plan, which was serving targets and holding serve."
On the mood of Hung and Heller following the win ... "I think they're excited, but at the same time I think they feel that they definitely deserve to be here. I think they're more excited about their next match and the possibility of playing for a national championship."
On Hung and Heller's next opponent ... "We know a fair amount about them. They're a very solid doubles team, one of the better teams in the country. Our guys need to play very well to win and they're capable of doing that, so it's going to be an exciting match."
On the excitement of the team ... "I think everyone is pretty pumped. We're not treating this as the biggest thing ever because I think that we've come to expect better things of ourselves. Everyone is excited and it sends a great message to the team and the entire program that we're as good as anybody else."
On the magnitude of the quarterfinal win ... "I don't want to say that we expect this from them, because it's a pretty high standard, but I certainly think that they're one of the better doubles teams in the country and I think that we have other doubles teams that could also be doing this. It's a great start for us but we've got to keep things going. They're doing a good job so far."
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
