Michigan
North Carolina State
Wolverines Fall to No. 23 NC State in Final Match
1/15/2020 10:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis
» Michigan secured the doubles point with wins from the No. 1 and No. 2 spots
» Mattias Siimar won his singles match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2
» The Wolverines will travel to face Washington on Friday (Jan. 17) for their first dual-match road test this season.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Result: #23 NC State 4, #17 Michigan 3
Records: U-M (0-1), NCST (2-0)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 17 -- at Washington (Seattle, Wash.), 5 p.m. PST
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With the score tied at 3-3, the No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team battled No. 23 North Carolina State in a tiebreaker in the final match for the final team point, but the Wolverines fell, 4-3, to the Wolfpack on Wednesday night (Jan. 15) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
The match came down to No. 5 singles, with Harrison Brown facing NC State's Robert Turzak in a three-set showdown. Brown won the first set, 6-2, and Turzak tooks the second set, 6-3. Brown got off to a slow start in the third set, falling behind, 4-1. He rallied to within 5-4, then clawed to force a third-set tiebreaker. Turzak outlasted Brown, 7-5 in the tiebreaker and went on to a 7-6 win to secure the Wolfpack victory.
Michigan took the doubles point, ultimately decided by a 7-3 tiebreaker win by the No. 2 duo Connor Johnston and Ondrej Styler. After taking a 4-2 advantage, the Wolfpack came back to tie the match at 4-4. The teams continued to break each other, forcing a tiebreaker.
The first doubles match to finish featured the No. 3 doubles pair of Harrison Brown and Nick Beaty. Although they survived a double match point at 5-3, they were unable to hang on in the next game and fell, 6-4.
The No. 5-ranked duo of Andrew Fenty and Mattias Siimar had a strong showing, winning three of four deuce games, one of them being the match point in a 6-4 victory.
Mattias Siimar earned the Wolverines' first singles victory of the match. He started each set with a lead (5-1 and 5-2), and went to win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Senior Nick Beaty earned a three-set victory at No. 6. After a decisive 6-3 first set, he dropped the second set, In the third set was a tight battle, with Beaty battling back from 40-30 in the final game to win the match.
Shortly after Beaty's victory, Fenty fell, 1-6, 6-3, 4-6, against Alexis Galarneau to knot the match at 3 and set up the Brown-Turzak battle for the final point.
U-M will be back in action this weekend when they head west to take on Washington on Friday (Jan. 17) at 5 p.m. PST and Oregon on Sunday (Jan. 19) at noon PST.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- Alexis Galarneau (NCST) d. No. 78 Andrew Fenty (U-M), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
No. 2 -- Tadas Babelis (NCST) d. No. 94 Ondrej Styler (U-M), 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 -- Mattias Siimar (U-M) d. Yannai Barkai (NCST), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 -- Rafa Izquierdo Luque (NCST) d. Connor Johnston (U-M), 7-5, 6-4
No. 5 -- Robert Turzak (NCST) d. Harrison Brown (U-M), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
No. 6 -- Nick Beaty (U-M) d. Martins Rocens (NCST), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 5 Mattias Siimar/Andrew Fenty (U-M) d. No. 32 Tadas Babelis/Yannai Barkai (NCST), 6-4
No. 2 -- Connor Johnston/Ondrej Styler (U-M) d. Rafa Izquierdo Luque/Collin Shick (NCST), 7-6 (7-3)
No. 3 -- Alexis Galarneau/Robert Turzak (NCST) d. Harrison Brown/Nick Beaty (U-M), 6-4
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-1-2, Singles 2-3-6-4-1-5
Players Mentioned
