NCAA Regional Play On Tap for Wolverines

May 10, 2017

THIS WEEK
NCAA Regional
Friday, May 12 -- vs. Valparaiso (Palo Alto, Calif.), 11 a.m. PDT
With a win...
Saturday, May 13 -- Stanford or Idaho (Palo Alto, Calif.), 4 p.m. PDT

The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team (22-6) will travel to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, for NCAA Regional play this weekend (Fri-Sat., May 12-13).

The Wolverines will take on Valparaiso in the first round on Friday (May 12) at 11 a.m. PDT, with the winner taking on either Stanford or Idaho the following day (Saturday, May 13) at 4 p.m. PDT, with a spot in the final 16 in Athens, Georgia, on the line.

• The Maize and Blue is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year (37th overall) after compiling a 22-6 record in head coach Adam Steinberg's third season at the helm. Michigan is in search of their first trip to the final 16 since the 2008 season and fourth time since 1980.

• Michigan finished second in the Big Ten this season, going 10-2 in conference action and making an appearance in the championship of the Big Ten Tournament for the second time in program history.

• Alex Knight has a team-leading 24 wins in singles play and heads into the weekend with a dual-match record of 21-3 (2-0 at No. 1, 10-1 at No. 2, 4-1 at No. 3, 3-1 at No. 4, 2-0 at No. 5).

• Jathan Malik holds an 18-10 record in singles play while primarily playing in the No. 1 singles spot this spring.

• Carter Lin has a team-leading six-match winning streak and heads into the weekend with a 17-3 mark in dual-match singles play.

• Myles Schalet is 22-9 on the year and a 13-6 mark in dual-match play.

• Malik was named as an alternate for the NCAA Individual Tournament (May 24-29 in Athens, Ga.) in singles play while also being tabbed an alternate in doubles play with Connor Johnston. U-M's last participant in the NCAA Individual Championships was Evan King, who reached the quarterfinals in 2013. The last doubles pairing was King alongside Jason Jung in 2011, when they reached the second round of the competition.

• The Wolverines come in at No. 17 in the latest weekly ITA rankings while being ranked No. 16 in the top-25 USTA weekly poll.

• In the latest ITA singles rankings, Malik was tabbed No. 72, while Knight was No. 86.

• Michigan's doubles pair of Malik and Johnston have an 11-4 record at No. 1 doubles and is ranked No. 29 by the ITA, while senior Kevin Wong and Malik come in at No. 34.

NCAA RULES
Each team match will be a contest for the best of seven team points. Doubles action will begin immediately with no warmup, so fans are encouraged to arrive on time for matches. In addition, each doubles match will be one set to six, with a tiebreaker occurring at 6-all. The team that wins two-of-three matches will secure the doubles point. Following a five-minute intermission, singles action will begin with each match worth one point towards the team score. There will be no-ad scoring in both singles and doubles action. In addition, there is to be no noise made between first and second serves this season as part of new ITA sportsmanship guidelines.

Communications Contact: TJ Garske

University of Michigan Athletics

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