Wolverines to the Hit Road, Wrap-Up Non-Conference Slate
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Friday, March 13 -- at Tulsa (Tulsa, Okla.), 1 p.m. CDT
Live Scoring
Sunday, March 15 -- at No. 17 TCU (Fort Worth, Tex.), Noon CDT
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The 70th-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team (3-6) returns to dual-match action this weekend, hitting the road for a pair of matches against non-conference foes. The Wolverines take on 29th-ranked Tulsa (10-7) on Friday (March 13) at 1 p.m. at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then wrap-up their weekend slate by squaring off against 17th-ranked TCU (9-6) at noon on Sunday (March 15) at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Dual-Match Format
Each of this weekend's dual matches will be for the best-of-seven team points. Each dual will begin with three doubles matches consisting of eight-game pro sets. The team that wins two of these three matches will enter the singles competition with one of seven points. After a brief intermission, six singles matches will be played. Each singles match will be the best-of-three tie-break sets and worth one point towards the team competition. Each overall dual match will be decided when one team secures four total points. Matches in progress when the dual match is clinched will be played to completion.
WOLVERINES BITES
• Michigan holds a 6-2 record all-time against Tula but has dropped the last two matchups between the schools. The Wolverines' last victory over the Golden Hurricanes came on Jan. 26, 2003. Tulsa features a pair of ranked singles players -- Alejandro Espejo (No. 100) and Or Ram-Harel (No. 37); Espejo joins Carlos Bautista at No. 53 in the ITA doubles rankings.
• U-M and TCU last squared off in dual-match play on Jan. 19, 2013, with the Wolverines notching a 4-3 victory. Senior Michael Zhu, then just a sophomore, played a key role in the win by grabbing points in both singles and doubles play. TCU has a trio of ranked singles players -- Cameron Norrie (No. 31), Nick Chappell (No. 39) and Guillermo Nuñez (No. 116) -- and a trio of ranked doubles pairs -- Trevor Johnson/Blake Wiggins (No. 60), Chappell/Will Stein (No. 29) and Norrie/Johnson (No. 23).
• No. 17 TCU will be the fourth top-25 opponent Michigan has faced this season (No. 6 Duke on Feb. 8, No. 16 Notre Dame on Feb. 14, No. 22 Memphis on Feb. 21).
• Michigan spent Spring Break in California, where it participated in the 126th annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. The Wolverines went a combined 3-3 record at the prestigious tournament, which was highlighted by the play of redshirt freshman Alex Knight and freshman Runhao Hua. Knight and Hua won a pair of eight-game pro sets to advance to the third round of the tournament's main draw. The duo began the event by notching an 8-5 win over the Rice duo of Srikar Alla and Efe Ustundag and followed with a tightly contested 8-6 triumph over Everett Maltby and Eli Whittle of UC Davis.
• Michael Zhu has won three straight matches from the No. 2 singles position and comes in at No. 120 in the latest ITA singles rankings. Zhu clinched dual-match victories over both No. 22 Memphis and Cleveland State on Feb. 21, earning the deciding fourth team point in each match. In the doubleheader nightcap against the Tigers, Zhu earned an impressive three-set win over 40th-ranked Andrew Watson at the No. 2 singles position.
• Michael Zhu already owns five dual-match singles wins this season after posting a total of six singles victories in 2013-14.
• U-M earned an impressive 6-1 upset victory over No. 22 Memphis on Feb. 21 at the Varsity Tennis Center. Prior to the victory over the Tigers, U-M's last victory over a top-25 team came over No. 24 Penn State in the second round of the 2014 Big Ten Tournament.
• U-M has claimed the doubles point in two of its last three matches. The Wolverines are 3-1 this season when capturing the first point of the match.
• Freshman Runhao Hua has a three-match winning streak. Counting fall tournament play, Hua owns a team-high 10 singles victories in 2014-15. Hailing from Shanghai, China, Hua won his first career tournament as a Wolverine during the fall slate, winning the Cordish Singles Draw at the Princeton/Farnsworth Ivy Invitational, held Sept. 19-21, at Lenz Tennis Center. Hua did not lose a single set the entire tournament.
• During the fall season, Petrone and senior counterpart Michael Zhu were named co-captains for the 2015 season. Petrone went 22-12 in doubles competition and 18-17 in singles play during his junior campaign last season. Zhu posted a 19-11 doubles mark and an 8-11 singles record as a junior.
• Michigan inked a pair of five-star recruits -- Myles Schalet and Gabe Tishman -- to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period for the 2015-16 academic year. Schalet, comes to Michigan as the No. 24-ranked senior in the country and No. 2-ranked recruit from New Jersey. Tishman joins Schalet as a five-star recruit and is currently rated as the No. 61-ranked senior in the country and No. 5-ranked recruit from New York. Both players will join the Maize and Blue next fall.
• Head coach Adam Steinberg is in his first year at the helm of the Wolverine program. The 15th leader in program history, Steinberg arrived in Ann Arbor after a successful 12-year head coaching tenure with Pepperdine University (2002-14), where he delivered a national championship in 2006 and compiled an overall record of 265-92 (.742) as the leader of the Waves. The 2006 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Coach of the Year and a seven-time West Coach Conference Coach of the Year, Steinberg guided Pepperdine to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including five Sweet 16 appearances, one Elite Eight trip and two Final Four appearances.
• A familiar face, Sean Maymi, was named the new associate head coach for the Wolverine program on Jan. 7, after former U-M associate head coach Jeremy Wurtzman was appointed head coach at Indiana University. Maymi previously spent five seasons with the U-M men's tennis program from 2006-2011, serving as assistant coach (2006-08) before being promoted to associate head coach (2008-2011). Maymi spent the last three years teaching and training some of the best junior and professional tennis players in the world. Prior to returning to Ann Arbor, Maymi spent six months training players at the Junior Tennis Champions Center (J.T.C.C.) in College Park, Maryland, a world-class training center for young tennis players, and three years (2012-14) at Todd Martin Tennis (T.M.T.) in Ponte Verdra, Florida, working in a similar capacity for former ATP World Tour player Todd Martin.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, March 20 -- vs. Ohio State (Varsity Tennis Center), 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 22 -- at Penn State (State College, Pa.), Noon
Players Mentioned
