Michigan
Michigan State
Michigan Falls at Michigan State in Big Ten First Round
4/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The No. 52 University of Michigan men's tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 56 Michigan State Thursday afternoon (April 29) in the first round of the 2004 Big Ten Conference Championship at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. The No. 8 seed Wolverines won two of three in doubles to take the first point, but the No. 9 seed Spartans responded with four singles victories to clinch the match and advance to play No. 1 seed Illinois in the quarterfinal round tomorrow (April 30). With the loss, Michigan finishes the season 13-9 overall.
Michigan State (17-12) took the early advantage in doubles, as Cameron Marshall and Eric Simonton overtook senior Anthony Jackson (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet HS) and junior Josef Fischer (Nuernberg, Germany/Bradenton Academy) at No. 2 by an 8-1 score. However, Michigan's No. 3 pair of junior Vinny Gossain (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) and freshman Steve Peretz (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Dwight School) evened the score with an 8-6 victory over Mike Brown and Michael Flowers for their team-high 10th dual match win of the season. Soon after, freshmen Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) secured the doubles point by outlasting Andrew Formanczyk and Chris Mitchell 9-7 at the top spot.
Michigan State stormed back to take a 2-1 lead with a pair of straight-set singles victories at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively. Simonton defeated junior David Anving (Tvaaker, Sweden/Varbergs Gymnasieskola) 6-2, 6-3, and Flowers followed with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Fischer.
The Wolverines were able to even things up once again after Heller put away Mitchell in three sets at No. 3. After posting a 6-3 win in the first frame, Heller was within one game of the match in the second set. However, Mitchell fought back from a 5-4 deficit and eventually won in a tiebreaker, 7-6(1), to force a third set. In the deciding frame, Heller left little doubt with a commanding 6-1 decision to give U-M its second point of the day.
Unfortunately, that would be Michigan's final point, as MSU claimed consecutive victories at No. 5 and No. 2 to clinch the match. Peretz was unable to complete a comeback against Joseph McWilliams, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Marshall then handed Hung his first loss in eight matches, 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2 to wrap things up.
With the outcome decided, Jackson's match with No. 98 Formanczyk at No. 1 was abandoned. The pair split the first two sets and Formanczyk was within two games of a win in the third frame when the match was called.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Anthony Jackson (U-M) vs. #98 Andrew Formanczyk, abandoned
No. 2 -- Cameron Marshall (MSU) d. Brian Hung, 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2
No. 3 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) d. Chris Mitchell, 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-1
No. 4 -- Eric Simonton (MSU) d. David Anving, 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 -- Joseph McWilliams (MSU) d. Steve Peretz, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
No. 6 -- Michael Flowers (MSU) d. Josef Fischer, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- Heller/Hung (U-M) d. Formanczyk/Mitchell, 9-7
No. 2 -- Marshall/Simonton (MSU) d. Jackson/Fischer, 8-1
No. 3 -- Vinny Gossain/Peretz (U-M) d. Mike Brown/Flowers, 8-6
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-3-1, Singles 4-6-3-5-2
N O T E S
With Michigan's lone singles win at No. 3, Ryan Heller reached his 20th career singles victory at U-M. In his first season, Heller posted an overall record of 20-14, including a 12-8 dual match mark at No. 3 and No. 4. He is one of four Wolverines to finish the season with 20 or more singles wins, with Brian Hung (22-10), Steve Peretz (20-8) and junior Michael Rubin (Canton, Ohio/Canton Central Catholic HS) (21-12) also accomplishing the feat.
All three of Michigan's freshmen totaled 20 or more singles wins and combined for an overall record of 62-32 (.660) in 2003-04.
With a doubles mark of 18-10 in 2003-04, Vinny Gossain led the team in overall doubles victories for the second consecutive season. Last year, Gossain compiled a team-best doubles record of 10-20. In three seasons, Gossain has posted an overall doubles record of 29-34, including a 20-24 dual match record.
Anthony Jackson finished his four-year career at U-M with an overall singles record of 72-63 (45-40 dual) and an overall doubles mark of 53-63 (40-45 dual).
With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 86-19 all-time against the Spartans.
Michigan won the doubles point against 12 of its 22 opponents this season.
U-M finished the dual match season with a 4-9 record against nationally ranked opponents.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
