Michigan
Indiana
Michigan Beats Indiana 4-3 to Win 10th Straight Match
4/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)
Score: Michigan 4, Indiana 3
Records: U-M (13-1, 6-0 Big Ten), IU (10-7, 2-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 11 -- at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 1 p.m. CDT
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The University of Michigan men's tennis team remained atop the Big Ten Conference standing with a 4-3 victory over Indiana today (Saturday, April 10) at the IU Tennis Center. Michigan raised its conference record to 6-0 and in the process won its 10th consecutive match to improve to 13-1 on the year.
The Wolverines claimed the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Junior Matt Wright (Wichita, Kan./Wichita Collegiate HS) and freshman Danny McCain (Largo, Fla./Canterbury School) beat Gabriel Montilla and Rahman Smiley by an 8-3 score at the No. 1 spot. Senior co-captain William Farah (Flint, Mich./Powers Catholic HS) and junior Brad McFarlane (Kingston, Ontario/Bayridge Secondary HS) secured the team point with an 8-4 score at the No. 2 slot. The Wolverines nearly pulled the doubles sweep, but the Hoosiers managed a 9-8 victory over junior John Long (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) and senior co-captain Jake Raiton (Portland, Ore./Wilson HS) at the No. 3 slot.
With a 1-0 advantage heading into singles, Michigan split the six singles matches with Indiana to take a tight 4-3 victory in the contest. The Wolverines have won seven of the last eight matches in the series and improved to 48-11-1 all-time against the Hoosiers.
Wright won his 15th match of the season (15-8) and 60th career singles victory (60-36) in today's match, defeating Ian Arons at the No. 1 spot (6-3, 6-3). Wright has a 4-2 conference record and has an 8-6 dual match record at the top spot in the lineup.
After losses at the No. 2 through No. 4 slots, freshman Henry Beam (Kalamazoo, Mich./Loy Norrix HS) gained a straight-sets victory (6-4, 6-1) over Paul Jacobson at the No. 5 spot. Beam has an 18-10 overall record on the season and is 9-4 in dual matches.
Fellow freshman Ben Cox (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake HS) clinched the victory with a hard-fought, straight-sets win at the No. 6 slot (7-6, 7-5). Cox remained a perfect 14-0 in dual matches this season and leads the team with a 21-4 overall record.
The men's tennis team concludes its road trip at Purdue tomorrow (Sunday, April 11) at 1 p.m. CDT. The match is a battle of two of the conference's three remaining unbeaten squads (Illinois is the other).
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Matt Wright (U-M) d. Ian Arons, 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 -- Gabriel Montilla (IU) d. William Farah, 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 -- George McGill (IU) d. John Long, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
No. 4 -- Milan Rakvica (IU) d. Danny McCain, 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 -- Henry Beam (U-M) d. Paul Jacobson, 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 -- Ben Cox (U-M) d. Rahman Smiley, 7-6, 7-5
Doubles
No. 1 -- Wright/McCain (U-M) d. Montilla/Smiley, 8-3
No. 2 -- Farah/Brad McFarlane (U-M) d. Rakvica/Jacobson, 8-4
No. 3 -- Arons/Ricardo Jaccken (IU) d. Long/Jake Raiton, 9-8
Players Mentioned
