Michigan
Tennessee
Michigan Comes Up One Point Shy of Upsetting No. 6 Tennessee
1/18/2024 8:43:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Site: Knoxville, Tenn. (Goodfriend Tennis Center)
Score: #14 Michigan 3, #6 Tennessee 4
Records: U-M (1-1), Tennessee (4-0)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 27 -- vs. Nevada - ITA Kick-Off (Varsity Tennis Center), 9 a.m.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In a tightly contested battle of ranked teams, No. 6-ranked Tennessee was able to hold off the No. 14 University of Michigan men's tennis team in a 4-3 setback for the Wolverines on Thursday (Jan. 18) on the Volunteers' home court, the Goodfriend Tennis Center.
It came down to the third set of the final singles match at No. 1, between No. 9 Gavin Young and No. 20 Johannus Monday, to decide the team score.
Monday took a 7-5 first set and held a 5-4 lead in the second set and had a 40-40 match point. Young fought off the match point to win the game, breaking Monday on deuce. The two traded games to force a tiebreaker at 6-6, where Young jumped out to a 3-1 advantage and stayed on top to take it 7-4 and force the third set. The final set went back and forth with each player holding serve with Monday leading 5-4 and Young on serve. Monday went ahead 30-love and capitalized on the lead to win the final point and the set.
Michigan fell behind 2-0 as Tennessee took the doubles point and won No. 5 singles early. Patorn Hanchaikul put Michigan on the board with a win at No. 4 versus Chris Li. Hanchaikul never trailed in either set and earned a 6-2, 6-4 win.
No. 33 Shunsuke Mitsui defeated Bjorn Swenson at No. 3 to put the Vols within one, 3-1, but moments later Nicholas Steiglehner made it a 3-2 match as he took down Angel Diaz in matching 6-4 sets.
Jacob Bickersteth and Younes Lalami were entrenched in the third set at No. 2 singles, while Young found himself trailing Monday at No. 1.
Bickersteth held a 5-4 advantage in the third set, but Lalami held serve to make it 5-5. Bickersteth nailed his next game and broke Lalami to win a 7-5 third set and put the team match in the hands of Young.
Michigan will host the ITA Kick-Off next Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 27-28 at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines take on Nevada at 9 a.m. on Saturday (Jan. 27) with Stanford and Memphis competing in the second match. The winners will meet Sunday (Jan. 28) at 2 p.m., with a spot to the ITA National Indoor Championship on the line. The consolation match will be a held at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 - No. 20 Johannus Monday (Tennessee) d. No. 9 Gavin Young (U-M), 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4
No. 2 - No. 61 Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) d. Younes Lalami (Tennessee), 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
No. 3 – No. 33 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee) d. Bjorn Swenson (U-M), 7-5, 6-2
No. 4 – Patorn Hanchaikul (U-M) d. Chris Li (Tennessee), 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 – Filip Pieczonka (Tennessee) d. Will Cooksey (U-M), 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 – Nicholas Steiglehner (U-M) d. Angel Diaz (Tennessee), 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 – No. 26 Johannus Monday/Angel Diaz (Tennessee) d. No. 31 Gavin Young/Nino Ehrenschneider (U-M), 6-2
No. 2 – No. 34 Filip Pieczonka/Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee) vs. Will Cooksey/Patorn Hanchaikul (U-M), 5-4 abandoned
No. 3 – Younes Lalami/Filip Apltauer (Tennessee) d. Jacob Bickersteth/Bjorn Swenson (U-M), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-1, Singles 5-4-3-6-2-1
Players Mentioned
