Michigan Opens Big Ten Tourney With Win Over Indiana

Friday, April 27

West Lafayette, Ind.

2:00 PM

Michigan

Indiana

4/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 20-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team earned its third straight trip to the Big Ten Conference Championship semifinals thanks to a 4-1 victory over No. 67-ranked Indiana Friday afternoon (April 27) at the Schwartz Tennis Center. The No. 2 seed Wolverines (19-5) won the doubles point and three of the first four singles matches completed to clinch their second victory over the No. 7 seed Hoosiers (15-12) in one week. It also marked the second straight season that U-M defeated IU in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

Michigan's No. 57-ranked duo of senior Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and sophomore Andrew Mazlin (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS) got the Maize and Blue off to a fast start with a quick 8-3 win over David Bubenicek and Arnaud Roussel at No. 2 doubles.

Freshmen George Navas (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory School) and Mike Sroczynski (Chatham, N.J./Laurel Springs School) secured the first team point with their 8-5 triumph over Peter Antons and Mak Kendall at No. 3. It was the Wolverine tandem's eighth win in its last 10 outings.

Srozynski also came up big on the singles court, closing out Antons by a score of 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 to put Michigan in front 2-0. It was Sroczynski's team-best eighth straight victory, moving his dual match record to 13-2.

Indiana's Thomas Richter avenged last weekend's loss to senior Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School), earning a 6-4, 6-4 decision at No. 1 to narrow the gap to 2-1. The Hoosiers' momentum was short lived, however, as Heller finished off Roussel by a 6-3, 6-4 margin at No. 4 to give the Wolverines a 3-1 advantage. The win was Heller's 70th career singles victory at Michigan, giving him his second career 20-win season (20-12).

Junior Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) provided the clincher, storming back to defeat Bubenicek by a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2. The 49th-ranked Maravic has been victorious in 10 of 12 matches at the second position this season.

The Wolverines will look for their first 20-win campaign since 1988 when they take on ninth-ranked and No. 3 seed Illinois in the semifinals Saturday (April 28) at 2 p.m. The Fighting Illini, who earned a 4-1 win over No. 11 seed Purdue in the quarterfinals, dropped a 5-2 decision to Michigan back on April 6.

Following are match-by-match results:

Singles
No. 1 -- Thomas Richter (IU) d. #48 Brian Hung, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 -- #49 Matko Maravic (U-M) d. David Bubenicek, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 -- Andrew Mazlin (U-M) vs. Dara McLoughlin, 6-3, 5-7, 1-3 (abandoned)
No. 4 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) d. Arnaud Roussel, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 -- Mike Sroczynski (U-M) d. Peter Antons, 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 -- George Navas (U-M) vs. Mak Kendall, 5-7, 6-4 (abandoned)

Doubles
No. 1 -- #8 Hung/Maravic (U-M) vs. McLoughlin/Richter, 6-7 (abandoned)
No. 2 -- #57 Heller/Mazlin (U-M) d. Bubenicek/Roussel, 8-3
No. 3 -- Navas/Sroczynski (U-M) d. Antons/Kendall, 8-5

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

Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423