Michigan
Notre Dame
Michigan Suffers Setback at 20th-Ranked Notre Dame
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The No. 56 University of Michigan men's tennis team closed out its non-conference schedule with a 5-2 loss to No. 20 Notre Dame Saturday afternoon (March 26) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Wolverines (10-6, 3-0 Big Ten) seized the early advantage after claiming a tight doubles point, but the Fighting Irish (14-5) responded with victories on five of six singles courts. U-M had an opportunity to gain control of the match after winning three of the first six sets in singles, but Notre Dame went on to capture comeback victories at Nos. 5 and 6.
Seniors David Anving (Tvaaker, Sweden/Varbergs Gymnasieskola) and Vinny Gossain (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) remained perfect on the dual match season (5-0), defeating Stephen Bass and Sheeva Parbhu 8-5 at No. 3 to give the Wolverines the early momemtum in doubles. After a Notre Dame tiebreaker win at No. 2, the nation's 43-ranked tandem of sophomore Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) and freshman Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) clinched the doubles point for Michigan, slipping by Brent D'Amico and Eric Langenkamp 9-8(5) at No. 1. Hung and Maravic improve to 7-3 in 2005.
The Irish took a 2-1 lead in the match after posting back-to-back singles wins. Parbhu defeated Anving in straight sets at No. 4 (6-4, 6-0), and Bass followed with an upset victory over No. 81 Maravic at No. 1 (6-2, 4-6, 6-4). Hung tied the match at 2-2 and earned U-M's lone singles win of the day, beating D'Amico 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 at No. 2.
Notre Dame claimed three-set victories on the three remaining courts. Barry King dealt sophomore Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 loss at No. 3 to bring the Irish within one match of the team victory. Sophomore Steve Peretz (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Dwight School) and senior Josef Fischer (Nuernberg, Germany/Brandenton Academy) held the early edge against their opponents, with each earning a 6-2 decision in the first set. Unfortunately, the Irish bounced back to take the remaining two sets in both matches to wrap up the team win. Irackli Akhvlediani clinched the victory by defeating Peretz at No. 4 (2-6, 6-2, 7-5), while Patrick Buchanan finished off Fischer at No. 6 (2-6, 6-4, 6-4) for the fifth and final point of the match.
The Wolverines close out their five-match road stretch next weekend. Michigan will face Minnesota on Friday (April 1, 6:30 p.m. CST) at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., then finish the weekend against Iowa on Sunday (April 3, 10 a.m. CDT) at the UI Recreation Building in Iowa City, Iowa.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Stephen Bass (UND) d. #81 Matko Maravic, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
No. 2 -- Brian Hung (U-M) d. Brent D'Amico, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0
No. 3 -- Barry King (UND) d. Ryan Heller, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
No. 4 -- Sheeva Parbhu (UND) d. David Anving, 6-4, 6-0
No. 5 -- Irackli Akhvlediani (UND) d. Steve Peretz, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
No. 6 -- Patrick Buchanan (UND) d. Josef Fischer, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- #43 Hung/Maravic (U-M) d. Eric Langenkamp/D'Amico, 9-8(5)
No. 2 -- Ryan Keckley/King (UND) d. Fischer/Heller, 9-8(3)
No. 3 -- Vinny Gossain/Anving (U-M) d. S. Bass/Parbhu, 8-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2-1, Singles 4-1-2-3-5-6
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Bruce Berque
On the team's peformance against Notre Dame ... "We competed very well as a group and each of our guys stepped up individually and gave a great effort. The team had a great start in doubles, but we lost focus and discipline once we had the lead and were fortunate enough to squeak out the doubles point. The guys made a decision before singles and they were going to leave everything out on the court and give it all they had. Unfortunately we came up short again, but I think it all boiled down to execution down the stretch. Notre Dame did the things it needed to do to win, but I was not dissapointed with our effort today. We're not satisfied, but we feel we're making good progress and can use this as a motivational tool for the rest of the season."
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
