Wolverines Set to Commence Conference Play Against Rival Spartans

» No. 7 Michigan returns to the Varsity Tennis Center on Friday (March 16) to face Michigan State. The match will mark the start of Big Ten Conference play for both programs.
» The Wolverines enter the conference slate on a seven-match win streak in dual-match play.
» Senior Carter Lin heads into Friday with an 8-0 record in singles dual-match play and rides a team-high eight-match winning streak.

THIS WEEK
Friday, March 16 -- vs. Michigan State (Varsity Tennis Center), 6 p.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team (10-2; 0-0 B1G) will begin Big Ten Conference play on Friday (March 16) with a home match against in-state foe Michigan State (6-8; 0-0 B1G).

• U-M is riding a season-long seven-match win streak heading into Friday. The Maize and Blue suffered consecutive losses to No. 8 North Carolina (Jan. 28) and No. 9 Florida (Feb. 9), before rattling off seven consecutive victories. Five of the seven wins came against teams currently ranked in the ITA's top 50.

• Michigan heads into the weekend boasting a 28-3 record at the Varsity Tennis Center that dates back to the 2015-16 season.

• Friday will mark the 120th time that Michigan and Michigan State have faced each other. U-M currently holds a 100-19 lead in the all-time series. In the 2017 matchup, the Wolverines came out of East Lansing with a 7-0 victory.

• Lately, the rivalry has been entirely one-sided. The Wolverines have been winners in their previous 14 matches against Michigan State. The last Spartan victory in the series was on April 29, 2004.

• The Spartans enter the match with a record of 6-8. Only one of those victories was on the road, as Michigan State is just 1-4 in away matches this season.

• Against common opponents this season (Drake, No. 23 Harvard, Memphis, No. 19 Notre Dame and No. 43 Western Michigan), the Spartans are just 1-4, while Michigan is 5-0.

• For yet another week, U-M senior Alex Knight is ranked as a top-five singles player nationally by the ITA. Knight's typical doubles partner, senior Runhao Hua, has made his way up the rankings and sits at No. 26. In the ITA's doubles rankings, Knight and Hua are No. 9.

• U-M senior Carter Lin is now 8-0 in his singles matches on the season. Most recently, Lin bested Central Florida's Eero Vasa, 6-3 and 6-2 on March 3. The win was Lin's eighth straight.

• While Lin's eight-match win streak is the best on the team, Runhao Hua is not far behind. Hua's straight-sets (6-2, 6-2) victory over then No. 80 Alan Rubio of Central Florida was his sixth straight. The win streaks seem to be contagious, as five of Michigan's six typical starting singles players enter Friday with multi-match streaks.

• Michigan's 9-2 record in regular-season conference play was second best in the Big Ten last season.

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.