Michigan
Cleveland State
Wolverines Blank Cleveland State in NCAA First Round
5/12/2018 3:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis
» Michigan won the doubles point and won three straight singles matches.
» Carter Lin won his 20th singles match of the year in the victory.
» The Wolverines will play Notre Dame tomorrow (May 13) with a berth to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen on the line.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Event: NCAA Regionl (First Round)
Score: #15 U-M 4, CSU 0
Records: U-M (21-5), CSU (17-11)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, May 13 -- vs. Notre Dame (Varsity Tennis Center), noon
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday (May 12) when they defeated Cleveland State, 4-0. The Wolverines took the doubles point and won three straight singles matches to earn the shutout victory.
The Maize and Blue eased to the doubles point after picking up wins at No. 2 and No. 1. The combination of senior Alex Knight and freshman Harrison Brown continued its stellar play together and cruised to a 6-1 victory capped off by Brown sending an unreturnable serve up the T for the match point. Knight and Brown are now 6-0 on the year with the victory. Following the win at the two spot, junior Myles Schalet and sophomore Connor Johnston were able to secure the doubles point with a 6-2 victory in the No. 1 spot. The win was the pair's 11th on the season which is the second most for a doubles pairing on the team this year. Senior Davis Crocker and freshman Kristofer Siimar were the other doubles pairing and were 4-3 in their match when the doubles point was won.
Senior Carter Lin won the next point for the Wolverines, as he picked up a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the fourth singles spot. The win was Lin's 20th singles win on the year, giving him his third straight 20-win singles season. Crocker followed with a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 5 to give U-M the 3-0 lead in the match and one point away from advancing to the second round. Michigan got the point it needed shortly after Crocker when freshman Mattias Siimar won at No. 3, cruising through the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
The Wolverines were faring well in the matches that went unfinished and were up one set to none in two of the three unfinished matches. Knight was close to victory at No. 1 and finished with his match at 6-4, 5-2. Brown at No. 6 had also picked up a set and was tied in the second. His match was abandoned at 6-4, 3-3. Schalet had a gritty performance in his unfinished match at No. 2, fending off three match points in the first set before losing in a tiebreaker. He quickly moved on and was up in the second set, with the match stopping while the score was 6-7 (3), 3-0.
Michigan moves on with the win and will now face Notre Dame in the NCAA second round on Sunday (May 13) at noon at the Varsity Tennis Center. Notre Dame advanced to the second round earlier on Saturday by defeating Western Michigan by a score of 4-1. The Irish took the doubles point and then picked up wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 in singles. Western Michigan's only victory came at the sixth singles spot.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 17 Alex Knight (U-M) vs. Nico Mostardi (CSU), 6-4, 5-2 unfinished
No. 2 -- Myles Schalet (U-M) vs. Matthew Terry (CSU), 6-7(3), 3-0 unfinished
No. 3 -- Mattias Siimar (U-M) vs. Luke Phillips (CSU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 -- Carter Lin (U-M) vs. Ben Slade (CSU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 -- Davis Crocker (U-M) vs. Gabriel Evtimov (CSU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 -- Harrison Brown (U-M) vs. Mirko Radosevic (CSU), 6-4, 3-3 unfinished
Doubles
No. 1 -- Myles Schalet/Connor Johnston (U-M) def. Nico Mostardi/Ben Slade (CSU), 6-2
No. 2 -- Alex Knight/Harrison Brown (U-M) def. Luke Phillips/William Malm (CSU), 6-1
No. 3 -- Davis Crocker/Kristofer Siimar (U-M) vs. Matthew Terry/Mirko Radosevic (CSU), 4-3 unfinished
Order of Completion: Doubles: 2-1; Singles: 4-5-3
Players Mentioned
