Notes & Quotes: Michigan 4, #18 Illinois 3
4/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 6, 2012
N O T E S
• With today's win, the Wolverines improved to 64-32-2 in the all-time series against Illinois and halted a four-match Fighting Illini win streak in the series.
• Michigan handed Illinois its first Big Ten loss of the season. The teams are now tied, along with Northwestern, for second place in the conference standings with 5-1 records.
• Junior Evan King is 3-2 in collegiate matches against Illinois' Dennis Nevolo. He has claimed the last three meetings, winning 6-2, 6-1 and 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in last season's duals.
• King has won 14 of his last 15 singles matches.
• Michigan has claimed the doubles point in 11 of 16 matches this season, including four of six Big Ten duals.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Bruce Berque
On today's dual win ... "Today was a great win for our season. But we obviously have more to go, and we don't feel like we necessarily played our best today. We played well and competed hard, but the encouraging thing is I think we still have plenty of things that we can work on and improve."
On doubles play ... "The team was really committed to having a good start in doubles. We had great energy on all three courts, and we were executing very well. This was one of our better doubles points of the season. Mike and Alex were playing really well too [at No. 3], but they let it slip a little bit. That was the one area that we could have done a little better. I was particularly pleased with Barrett Franks and Alex Buzzi. After a couple of rough matches last weekend, they really committed themselves to working on their game, and they played very well today. That turned out to be a big win for us."
On Evan King's clinching win ... "I was really happy for him. He played at a high level of tennis -- both he and Nevolo -- throughout the match. Evan won a tough first set. He got a break and was up in the second set, but he just didn't quite finish. You need to play very well to finish a match against Dennis, and he just turned it on and won that second set. Dennis had the momentum in the third, but Evan had a really long game to hold in the first game. That was a pivotal hold, and I think it really kept him in that match. It was a huge win for Evan, and to do it under pressure, speaks to him."
