Michigan
Illinois
Michigan's Eight-Match Win Streak Snapped at No. 14 Illinois
3/26/2021 7:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Site: Champaign, Ill. (Atkins Tennis Center)
Result: No. 14 Illinois 5, No. 25 Michigan 2
Records: U-M (8-2, 8-1 B1G), Illinois (11-2, 8-1 BIG)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 28 -- at Northwestern (Evanston, Ill), Noon CDT
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team dropped its first Big Ten match of the season, falling, 5-2, at No. 14 Illinois on Friday (March 26) at the Atkins Tennis Center. The Wolverines were on an eight-match win streak heading into the contest.
Harrison Brown and Nick Beaty earned a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles. Tied at 5-5, the Wolverine duo captured wins in the last two games. After Illinois won at No. 2 doubles, the point came down to No. 1, where two ranked pairs were going head-to-head.
The No. 23-ranked pair of Andrew Fenty and Mattias Siimar fell to No. 27 Alex Brown and Zeke Clark, 7-6 (5), in a tiebreaker at No. 1. Fenty and Siimar jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the Fighting Illini won three of the next four to knot things at 4. Still tied at 6, the quartet headed into the tiebreaker. After sitting at 3-3, Fenty and Siimar took a 5-3 edge but won just one of the next four to halt a three-match win streak.
No. 93-ranked Nick Beaty tied the team score with a win at No. 5 singles, winning matching 6-4 sets over Hunter Heck. Beaty is now 7-1 in the Big Ten and 13-3 overall.
Moments later, Illinois regained the lead with No. 27-ranked Aleks Kovacevic topping No. 124 Fenty, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. Jacob Bickersteth put up a battle in the second set after a 6-1 loss in the first, stretching out second but ultimately falling 7-5 to Noe Khlif at No. 6.
Patrick Maloney pushed the Wolverines within one in the team match, 3-2, with a win over Brown at No. 3 singles. Maloney easily took the first set, 6-1, before getting tested in the second set. They traded games before being knotted at 6-6. Brown went up, 4-2, in the tiebreak before Maloney stormed back to take the next five points to claim the match, 7-6 (4). Maloney is now 5-1 at No. 3 singles this season.
Illinois claimed the team match at No. 2 singles as No. 54 Siphosothando Montsi tallied from down one set to No. 50 Styler to taking the second and third sets by 6-3 scores. With Siimar and No. 28 Zeke Clark splitting the first two sets, the third came down to a 10-point tiebreak with Clark taking it 10-1 to end Siimar's win streak at seven matches.
Michigan caps off a four-match road swing on Sunday (March 28) with a noon CDT contest at Northwestern.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 27 Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) d. No. 124 Andrew Fenty (U-M), 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 -- No. 54 Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) d. No. 50 Ondrej Styler (U-M), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 -- Patrick Maloney (U-M) d. No. 119 Alex Brown (ILL), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
No. 4 -- No. 28 Zeke Clark (ILL) d. 109 Mattias Siimar (U-M) 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 10-1
No. 5 -- No. 93 Nick Beaty (U-M) d. Hunter Heck (ILL), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 -- Noe Khlif (ILL) d. Jacob Bickersteth (U-M), 6-2, 7-5
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 27 Alex Brown/Zeke Clark (ILL) d. No. 23 Andrew Fenty/Mattias Siimar (U-M), 7-6 (5)
No. 2 -- Siphosothando Montsi/Noe Khlif (ILL) d. Connor Johnston/Ondrej Styler (U-M), 6-3
No. 3 -- Harrison Brown/Nick Beaty (U-M) d. Alex Bancila/Aleks Kovacevic (ILL), 7-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2-1, Singles 5-1-6-3-2-4
Players Mentioned
