Michigan
Harvard Fall Chowder Invitational
King, Bernstein Win Titles at Harvard Fall Chowder Invitational
9/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 25, 2011
Site: Cambridge, Mass. (Beren Tennis Center)
Event: Harvard Fall Chowder Invitational
U-M Team Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Mon-Sun, Oct. 3-9 -- at ITA All-American Championships (Tulsa, Okla.)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Junior Evan King (Chicago, Ill./Kaplan Prep) won the singles title for the University of Michigan men's tennis team at the season-opening Harvard Fall Chowder Invitational this weekend (Fri-Sun, Sept. 23-25) at the Beren Tennis Center.
King was crowned the Dale Junta '58 Winner of the event after posting a perfect 3-0 record in the top singles flight, and won the doubles competition with a 3-0 record alongside sophomore Shaun Bernstein (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK HS).
King, listed No. 8 in the ITA preseason rankings, registered three consecutive straight-set victories over ranked opponents. He opened his season with a 7-5, 6-1 decision over Texas A&M's 42nd-ranked Alexis Klegou before defeating USC's No. 16 Daniel Nguyen, a two-time All-Pac 10 selection, 6-3, 6-1, in his most convincing victory of the weekend. King concluded the tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Harvard's Jonathan Pearlman on Sunday. It is the best season start for King in his collegiate career.
Freshman Alex Petrone (Staten Island, N.Y./Laurel Springs School) won two of three matches in his first tournament as a Wolverine. Petrone was victorious in his collegiate debut, defeating Texas A&M's Jackson Withrow, 6-1, 6-3, and wrapped the event with 6-3, 6-3 decision over Harvard's Andy Nguyen. His lone defeat came against No. 66 Emilio Gomez of three-time defending NCAA champion USC, 6-1, 6-3.
Sophomore Justin Rossi (Novi, Mich./Laurel Springs School) won his season debut against Texas A&M, battling to a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Albert Bautista, and was leading against Harvard's Denis Nguyen before injury forced him to retire during the second set.
King and Bernstein won all three doubles matches, including an 8-5 decision against No. 35-ranked Daniel Nguyen and Ray Sarmiento of USC. The duo, ranked 33rd in the ITA preseason poll, also earned a 8-5 victory over Texas A&M and a 9-8 win over Harvard.
Michigan's pairing of Rossi and freshman Michael Zhu (Princeton, N.J./Keystone National HS) claimed each of their doubles matches on Saturday, defeating USC, 8-6, before beating Harvard, 8-1,
King and Bernstein will head to the ITA All-American Championships, scheduled for next Monday through Saturday, Oct. 3-9, at the University of Tulsa's Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. Bernstein will begin play in the 112-player qualifying draw at the ITA All-American Championships on Monday, Oct. 3. Bernstein hopes to earn one of 16 spots into the 64-player main draw, which begins Thursday (Oct. 3). King has automatically qualified for the main singles draw, and he will team with Bernstein in the 64-team doubles qualifying draw.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Bruce Berque
On junior Evan King's strong start ... "I think he did a really good job in all his matches. He competed well and played at a pretty good level. The nicest thing is he showed a lot of maturity; he is maturing slowly but surely. The results were an indication of the work he's put in and the ability that he has. But I can't say it was a surprise. He has the chance to be one of the best players in college."
On facing immediate tough competition with a young team ... "I've never been one to dummy down the schedule just to overprotect them. There's a point that it can become too much, but one of the reasons these guys come to Michigan is because we have a good schedule. We're trying to set the bar high and set the expectations of what the program should be -- and by doing that, what we expect of them. They're on board with it, and they can handle it."
On the freshmen performances ... "Alex played very well in all his singles matches. The only match he lost was against a very good player from USC, and he actually played at a decent level. Michael Zhu did well too. He played three good players and won the first set in each of his matches. That was really good for us to see, because he's extremely talented and a can play at a very high level. He needs to learn how to manage his emotions and sustain his level a little more consistently throughout a match. But we were really impressed with what we think he's going to be able to do."
On what he learned from the opening tournament ... "We took some losses, but a lot of the guys did good things. Doubles was encouraging; I think we improved in doubles from Friday to Saturday. Shaun Bernstein and Evan King looked very good. They beat three good teams and won the doubles tournament. Evan won the singles tournament. We were definitely some positives, and a lot of things became really clear with what we need to work on.
"These results were fairly meaningless. Some of our guys had opportunities to pick up ranked wins, which is good for their individual chances to make NCAAS, but it's just the very beginning. We practiced for less than a week before this tournament and just used it as a starting point to get some matches and see where they are. I'm not concerned about the overall results. We're just trying to learn about our team and redirect them. We think we have a lot of good things this year even though we're young. We think we're going to really improve this year and improve in the coming two years."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
