U-M Rolls Past Western Michigan to Open Dual Season

Saturday, January 15

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:00 PM

Michigan

Western Michigan

1/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 51 University of Michigan men's tennis team opened the 2005 dual match season with a 5-2 victory over No. 63 Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Jan. 15) at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines came back to win two of three in doubles before claiming four of six singles matches, providing Bruce Berque with his first collegiate dual match victory as a head coach.

Rubin clinched the team win with a tight 6-4, 7-5 victory at the No. 1 singles position.

Michigan got off to a rocky start in doubles, with senior Josef Fischer (Nuernberg, Germany/Bradenton Academy) and freshman Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) trailing by a score of 6-3 in their match against Jose Orozco and Tim Bradshaw. However, the U-M tandem stormed back to win five straight games to steal the match, 8-6.

Sophomores Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) also stepped up their play in the late stages of their doubles match at No. 1, posting wins in the three final games to defeat Tommy Dennis and Brady Crosby (8-4) and clinch the doubles point for U-M.

At No. 3, seniors Vinny Gossain (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) and Michael Rubin (Canton, Ohio/Canton Central Catholic HS) were leading Jeff French and Bryan Norville 8-7 and were serving for the match, but the Bronco pair broke serve and eventually won in a tiebreaker, 9-8(4).

Senior David Anving (Tvaaker, Sweden/Varbergs Gymnasieskola) began his final dual match season on the right foot, as he cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alejandro Staub at No. 5 to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead in the match.

After Western Michigan claimed a victory at No. 3 to narrow the gap to just one point in the team standings, Maravic earned an impressive 6-4, 6-2 decision over Bradshaw at No. 4 for his first career dual match victory. However, the Broncos stayed in contention with a win at No. 6.

Rubin picked the perfect time to capture his first singles win of 2004-05, as he defeated Orozco 6-4, 7-5 at No. 1. Rubin was down 5-4 in the second frame but held serve and went on to win three straight games to clinch the overall team win for Michigan.

In the lone three-set match of the day, Hung was able to hold off Crosby to win 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 at No. 2. Crosby came back from a 3-0 deficit in the third frame before succumbing to the No. 70-ranked Hung to close out the afternoon.

The Wolverines (1-0) return to the court on Jan. 29 when they travel to Williamsburg, Va., to face William & Mary at 4 p.m. Michigan will then head to Richmond, Va., the following day (Jan. 30) to take on Virginia Commonwealth at noon.

Following are match-by-match results:

Singles
No. 1 -- Michael Rubin (U-M) d. Jose Orozco, 6-4, 7-5
No. 2 -- #70 Brian Hung (U-M) d. Brady Crosby, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
No. 3 -- Tommy Dennis (WMU) d. Ryan Heller, 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 -- Matko Maravic (U-M) d. Tim Bradshaw, 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 -- David Anving (U-M) d. Alejandro Staub, 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 -- Alex Birchmeier (WMU) d. Josef Fischer, 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
No. 1 -- #17 Hung/Heller (U-M) d. Dennis/Crosby, 8-4
No. 2 -- Fischer/Maravic (U-M) d. Orozco/Bradshaw, 8-6
No. 3 -- French/Norville (WMU) d. Rubin/Gossain, 9-8(4)

Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 5-3-4-6-1-2

N O T E S

U-M holds an all-time record of 9-0 in season openers at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines have won 37 of their last 49 dual matches at the facility dating back to the 2000-01 season.

Michigan improves its all-time record against Western Michigan to 46-8.

Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423