Michigan set to Host NCAA Regional at Varsity Tennis Center

» Michigan is the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host the first and second rounds at the Varsity Tennis Center, joined by Cleveland State, Notre Dame and Western Michigan.
» U-M is making its third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 29th overall.
» The Wolverines played all three of the schools in their regional earlier in the year and defeated all three of them, besting Western Michigan 4-0, Notre Dame 4-3 and Cleveland State 6-1.

THIS WEEKEND
Saturday, May 12 -- vs. Cleveland State (Varsity Tennis Center), 1 p.m.
Tournament Central | Live Scoring/Streaming | NCAA Bracket
*Live Streaming will be available for matches if played indoors.
Sunday, May 13 -- vs. Notre Dame or Western Michigan* (Varsity Tennis Center), noon
*With a win on Saturday

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team (20-5) will host the first and seconds rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend (May 12-13) at the Varsity Tennis Center. Joining U-M are Cleveland State (17-10), No. 25 Notre Dame (18-13) and Western Michigan (22-4). The winner of the regional will advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, which will be hosted in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by Wake Forest University.

• Michigan earned the No. 15 seed in the tournament and is hosting the NCAA Regional round at the Varsity Tennis Center for the second time in program history (2008).

• The Wolverines are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season and 29th overall in program history. U-M is in search of its first trip to the round of 16 since 2008 and fourth time since 1980.

• Cleveland State (17-10) is making its sixth NCAA appearance and first since 2013. The Vikings captured the 2018 Horizon League Tournament and enter the first round of the NCAA Tournament riding a six-match win streak. This will be the second meeting between U-M and Cleveland State, with the Maize and Blue holding a 3-0 record after defeating the Vikings earlier this season, 6-1, on April 1.

• No. 25-ranked Notre Dame (18-13) earned one of 33 at-large selections and will be making its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 28 seasons. The Fighting Irish advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, while earning ranked wins over No. 8 Texas, No. 18 Duke and No. 42 Miami. If U-M plays Notre Dame on Sunday, it would be the 78th meeting between the two programs, with Michigan holding a 45-32 advantage in the all-time series with the Irish. The Maize and Blue came out victorious in its matchup earlier this season, leaving South Bend, Indiana, with a 4-3 victory.

• Western Michigan heads into the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in program history as one of the hottest teams in the country, having won 11 straight matches, which is tied for the third-longest streak in the country. Winners of the Mid-American regular-season and tournament championship, the Broncos could have a potential Sunday matchup with U-M, which would be the 65th meeting between the in-state foes. Michigan holds a 56-8 advantage over Western Michigan, most recently defeating WMU earlier this season, 4-0 (Feb. 18).

• Michigan remained in the top 20 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings heading into the NCAA tournament, coming in at No. 15 this week. The Wolverines have been in the top 20 all season, with their highest ranking being No. 7

• The Maize and Blue has two players in the top 50 heading into the tournament (Alex Knight -- 17, Runhao Hua -- 47) for the second time, and the first since 2007. Michigan also has two doubles pairings ranked this late in the year (Knight/Hua -- 23, Hua/Mattias Siimar -- 73) for the second straight year.

• Knight and Hua were named to the All-Big Ten first team, with Knight being a unanimous selection.

• Hua's 23 doubles wins and 22 singles wins, make him the 27th player in Michigan history to join the "20/20 club" for 20 doubles and singles wins in a season. Knight also accomplished that feat this year, for the second season in a row (25 singles, 23 doubles). Hua is on an eight-match win streak in doubles, with seven of the wins coming with Mattias Siimar and one coming with Knight.

• Knight and Hua will represent Michigan at the NCAA Individual Championships as well this year, with both qualifying in singles and together in doubles. It is the second year in a row the Wolverines will send a doubles team to the tournament, as Connor Johnston and Jathan Malik qualified last year. This is the first time since 2007 that two singles players will represent the Maize and Blue, when Brian Hung and Matko Maravic both qualified. The last U-M player to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships was Evan King, who made three consecutive tournament appearances (2011-13), making it to the quarterfinals in his senior season.

• Davis Crocker comes into the tournament with the Wolverines' longest active singles win streak, having won in five straight matches.

• The Wolverines finished the year with an 11-1 home record, and have gone 35-3 at the Varsity Tennis Center over the last three seasons.

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.

WEATHER POLICY
Matches shall be played outdoors unless the projected weather forecast, for a minimum of two hours out of a four-hour time period from the start of the match, according to www.weather.com is: a high of less than 50 degrees or sustained winds (not including wind gusts) of more than 20 miles per hour.