Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan Falls to Ohio State in Big Ten Semifinal Round
4/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 58 University of Michigan men's tennis team's quest at its first Big Ten championship since 1996 ended Saturday afternoon (April 30) with a 4-0 loss to No. 26 Ohio State in the seminal round at the Atkins Tennis Center. The No. 3 seed Wolverines (15-10) lost the doubles point, and the No. 2 seed Buckeyes (19-7) put the match away with three straight singles wins to advance to tomorrow's (Sunday, May 1) championship final against host and top seed Illinois.
Joey Atas and Drew Eberly picked up a quick 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles, and OSU's No. 5-ranked tandem of Scott Green and Ross Wilson outlasted sophomore Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) and freshman Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) 8-6 at No. 1 to wrap up the first team point for the Buckeyes.
Devin Mullings, the 57th-ranked player in the nation, posted a 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 79 Maravic at the top singles position to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead in the match. Eberly then put the Buckeyes within one point of clinching the match by defeating sophomore Steve Peretz (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Dwight School) 6-1, 7-6(3) at No. 5.
Atas, who is ranked 59th in singles, sealed the outcome with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over senior Josef Fischer (Nuernberg, Germany/Bradenton Academy) at No. 3. The three remaining matches were abandoned, including that of sophomore Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS), who was leading Ross Wilson at No. 4, 6-4, 5-7, 2-1.
The Wolverines will head home to Ann Arbor and await the selection of the tournament field for the 2005 NCAA Championships. Team selections for the 64-team field will be announced Wednesday (May 2) at 4:45 on ESPNews, with participants in the singles and doubles championships revealed the following day.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #57 Devin Mullings (OSU) d. #79 Matko Maravic, 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 -- Brian Hung (U-M) vs. Chris Klingemann, 6-1, 2-6, 1-3 abandoned
No. 3 -- #59 Joey Atas (OSU) d. Josef Fischer, 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) vs. Ross Wilson, 6-4, 5-7, 2-1 abandoned
No. 5 -- Drew Eberly (OSU) d. Steve Peretz, 6-1, 7-6(3)
No. 6 -- David Anving (U-M) vs. Dennis Mertens, 2-6, 4-5 abandoned
Doubles
No. 1 -- #5 Scott Green/Wilson (OSU) d. Hung/Maravic, 8-6
No. 2 -- Fischer/Heller (U-M) vs. Klingemann/Mullings, 5-4 abandoned
No. 3 -- Atas/Eberly (OSU) d. Vinny Gossain/Anving, 8-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-1, Singles 1-5-3
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
