Maravic Begins Senior Season Ranked No. 21 Nationally
9/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SKILLMAN, N.J. -- Senior Matko Maravic(Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) of the University of Michigan men's tennis team will enter his final season at U-M as the No. 21-ranked singles player in the nation, as recently announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). It marks a career-high national ranking for the Maize and Blue's top player.
Maravic, who has appeared in every ITA poll dating back to March 22, 2005, is the fourth-highest ranked player in the Big Ten Conference behind Ohio State's Steven Moneke (No. 2) and Bryan Koniecko (No. 6) and Illinois' Ryan Rowe (No. 9). Maravic's previous career-best national ranking was No. 25 on Sept. 8, 2006. He is the lone Wolverine to crack into the Top 25 during head coach Bruce Berque's three-year tenure at Michigan.
Maravic heads into his final collegiate campaign with an overall singles record of 65-46. He has played at the top of the lineup since his arrival on campus, compiling a dual-match mark of 24-20 at No. 1 and 16-7 at No. 2. Maravic will look to improve on a stellar junior season, when he tallied a career-best 27-13 record en route to his third straight All-Big Ten nomination. The three-time team MVP also earned U-M's first NCAA singles victory since 1992 and the program's first Big Ten Singles Championship title since 1996.
Joining Maravic in the year's first national poll are sophomore Mike Sroczynski(Chatham, N.J./Laurel Springs School) and freshman Jason Jung(Torrance, Calif./West Torrance HS). Sroczynski makes his debut at No. 92, while Jung enters his first season at No. 124. Maravic and Sroczynski represent the Wolverines in the national doubles rankings at No. 19.
In addition to the release of the preseason national rankings, the ITA office revealed its selections for the 2007 Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships. Maravic earned his third straight automatic invitation into the 64-player main singles draw and will team with Jung in the 32-team main doubles draw. Maravic will be making his second straight appearance in doubles after he teamed with Brian Hung (2004-07) for a runner-up finish at last year's event.
Jung will also compete in the 128-player qualifying singles draw at the event.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships, which will be held Monday through Saturday, Oct. 1-7, in the University of Tulsa's Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., are the first of three national championships during the 2007-08 men's collegiate tennis season. The other two events are the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships (Nov. 1-4) and the NCAA Championships (May 9-26).
U-M kicks off its fall campaign next Friday through Sunday (Sept. 28-30), when the Wolverines travel to South Bend, Ind., to participate in the Tom Fallon Invitational. The three-day event will be played at Notre Dame's Courtney Tennis Center.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
