Michigan
Northwestern
Michigan Opens Big Ten Play With Win at Northwestern
2/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The No. 45 University of Michigan men's tennis team opened its Big Ten Conference schedule with a 5-2 road victory over No. 62 Northwestern Friday evening (Feb. 24) at the Combe Indoor Tennis Center. The Wolverines (6-3, 1-0 Big Ten) claimed the doubles point for the sixth time in the last eight matches, then took three of the first four singles matches to secure their second straight conference-opening victory over the Wildcats (5-7, 0-2 Big Ten).
Michigan's top doubles team of junior Brian Hung (Hong Kong, China/Sagemont Virtual School) and sophomore Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) proved worthy of its recent No. 9 national ranking, as the pair defeated Northwestern's No. 30-ranked tandem of Matt Christian and Adam Schaecterle by an 8-5 score to give the Wolverines the early leg up in the match. Maravic and Hung have been victorious in 14 of their last 17 matches dating back to the fall season. With the win, the duo improves to 5-2 against nationally ranked teams in 2005-06.
After a Wildcat win at No. 3 evened up the doubles competition, junior Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and freshman Andrew Mazlin (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS) clinched the first team point for U-M thanks to a big 9-8(6) triumph over Willy Lock and Christian Tempke at No. 2. Heller and Mazlin have won three of four tiebreakers in dual match play.
Junior Steve Peretz (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Dwight School) continued his domination at No. 5, earning a 6-0 win the opening set and leading 1-0 in the second when Christian retired. Peretz improved his season record to 7-1 at the position and gave Michigan a 2-0 lead in the match. Maravic returned to the top singles slot and notched an impressive 6-2, 6-2 victory over the 69th-ranked Tempke to put the Wolverines in prime position to clinch the team win.
Northwestern was able to stay alive thanks to Schaechterle's 6-1, 6-4 victory over freshman Peter Aarts (Poundridge, N.Y./Fox Lane HS), but Heller ended any hopes of a Wildcat comeback with a solid 6-4, 6-1 win over Marc Dwyer at No. 4. Heller has provided Michigan with three match-clinching singles victories in 2006.
Mazlin recorded his team-leading 12th overall singles win by outlasting Juan Gomez in a super-tiebreaker at No. 3, 6-3, 6-7(5), 1-0(5). Mazlin holds a 12-12 record in 2005-06, including a 4-5 mark in dual match action.
Michigan will face Pepperdine on Thursday (March 2) during its Spring Break trip to Malibu, Calif. The match with the Waves is scheduled for a 1 p.m. PST start at the Ralphs-Stratus Tennis Center.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #95 Matko Maravic (U-M) d. #69 Christian Tempke, 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 -- Willy Lock (NU) d. Brian Hung, 6-2, 7-6(3)
No. 3 -- Andrew Mazlin (U-M) d. Juan Gomez, 6-3, 6-7(5), 1-0(5)
No. 4 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) d. Marc Dwyer, 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 -- Steve Peretz (U-M) d. Matt Christian, 6-0, 1-0 ret.
No. 6 -- Adam Schaechterle (NU) d. Peter Aarts, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- #9 Hung/Maravic (U-M) d. #30 Christian/Schaechterle, 8-5
No. 2 -- Heller/Mazlin (U-M) d. Lock/Tempke, 9-8(6)
No. 3 -- Dwyer/Gomez (NU) d. Scott Bruckmann/Peretz, 8-6
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2, Singles 5-1-6-4-2-3
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
