Michigan
Wisconsin
Wolverines Edged by Wisconsin in Big Ten First Round
4/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The University of Michigan men's tennis team was unable to move past the first round of the 2003 Big Ten Championship, falling to Wisconsin 4-3 Thursday afternoon (April 24) at Northwestern's Vandy Christie Center. The No. 10 seed Badgers (6-16, 2-8 Big Ten) avenged last weekend's loss to the Wolverines (9-13, 3-7 Big Ten) by taking the doubles point and three matches in singles to earn the victory and advance to the quarterfinal round against No. 2 seed Ohio State.
Wisconsin won the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, with the match at No. 3 being stopped once the team point was clinched. David Hippee and Alex Kasarov defeated senior Chris Rolf (Midland, Mich./Midland HS) and sophomore Vinny Gossain (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) 8-4 at the top spot, while Scott Green and Alex Conti secured the doubles point with an 8-6 win over senior Chris Shaya (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Saddlebrook Academy, Fla.) and sophomore Michael Rubin (Canton, Ohio/Canton Central Catholic HS) at No. 2.
The Badgers stormed out to take a 3-0 lead after taking the top two spots in singles play. Kasarov picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Rubin at No. 1 and Hippee defeated junior Anthony Jackson (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet HS) by an identical score of 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2. Michigan came back to even things at three apiece with victories at No. 3 through No. 5. Shaya posted a 6-2, 7-5 win over Blake Baratz at No. 3 to give U-M its first point. Sophomore David Anving (Tvaaker, Sweden/Varbergs Gymnasieskola) followed with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Green at No. 4. Sophomore Josef Fischer (Nuremberg, Germany/Bradenton Academy, Fla.) tied the match with his 7-5, 6-4 win over Ward Bortz at No. 5.
The match was decided in the final match, as Conti outlasted Gossain 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 6, allowing Wisconsin to advance to the second round.
U-M awaits selection to the 2003 NCAA Championship field, which will be announced Wednesday (April 30, 4:45 p.m. EDT) on ESPNews.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Alex Kasarov (U-W) d. Michael Rubin, 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 -- David Hippee (U-W) d. Anthony Jackson, 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 -- Chris Shaya (U-M) d. Blake Baratz, 6-2, 7-5
No. 4 -- David Anving (U-M) d. Scott Green, 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 -- Josef Fischer (U-M) d. Ward Bortz, 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 -- Alex Conti (U-W) d. Vinny Gossain, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- Hippee/Kasarov (U-W) d. Chris Rolf/Gossain, 8-4
No. 2 -- Green/Conti (U-W) d. Shaya/M. Rubin, 8-6
No. 3 -- Baratz/Bortz (U-W) vs. Anving/Jackson -- abandoned
Contact: Marc Ressler, David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
