Michigan
ITA Indoors Days 1-2
Hung and Maravic Reach Semis at ITA National Indoors
11/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Event: ITA National Indoor Championships
Scoring: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Match: Saturday, Nov. 4 -- Day 3 at ITA National Indoor Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 10:00 a.m.
Hung and Maravic Reach Semis at ITA National Indoors
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the second time in three years, the University of Michigan men's tennis program will be represented in the doubles semifinals at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Senior Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) and junior Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) earned a pair of victories Thursday and Friday (Nov. 2-3) at the Racquet Club of Columbus to move within two wins of securing Michigan's first-ever national doubles championship in the 114-year history of the program.
Hung and Maravic, the No. 5-ranked doubles tandem in the nation, opened the 16-team tournament with a convincing 8-3 triumph over William & Mary's No. 53-ranked pairing of Alex Cojanu and Colin O'Brien on Thursday. The Wolverine duo then knocked off Brown's Basu Ratnam and Eric Thomas by a score of 8-5 on Friday to advance to the semifinal round.
Hung and Maravic, who finished as the runner-up as last month's 32-team Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships (Oct. 5-8), will meet Middle Tennessee State's No. 3-ranked team of Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom in the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. Should they advance to the championship match, they will either face Georgia's Luis Flores and John Isner or Louisiana State's James Cluskey and Ken Skupski on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Hung and classmate Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) reached the semifinals at the 2004 ITA National Indoor Championships, which Michigan hosted at the Varsity Tennis Center. A wildcard entry, Hung and Heller knocked off the No. 2 and No. 32 ranked teams, respectively, en route to the semifinal round before falling 8-6 to then No. 1-ranked and defending NCAA champions KC Corkery and Sam Warburg of Stanford. It was U-M's first semifinal appearance in the tournament since 1979.
The ITA National Indoor Championships are the second of three national championship events during the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season, with the other two being the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships (Oct. 5-8) and the NCAA Championships (May 11-28).
Following are match-by-match results:
Brian Hung/Matko Maravic
First Round -- d. #53 Alex Cojanu/Colin O'Brien (William & Mary), 8-3
Quarterfinals -- d. Basu Ratnam/Eric Thomas (Brown), 8-5
Semifinals (Saturday, 10 a.m.) -- vs. #3 Marco Born/Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tennessee State)
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
