Michigan
Big Ten Singles Championship
Navas Claims Big Ten Singles Consolation Title
11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Site: Madison, Wis. (Nielsen Tennis Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Singles Championship
Scoring: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event:Thu-Sun., Nov. 6-9-- at ITA National Indoor Championships (Charlottesville, Va.)
• Results
MADISON, Wis. -- Junior George Navas (Tampa,Fla./Tampa Preparatory School) of the University of Michigan men's tennis team claimed the Big Ten Singles consolation final title today (Monday, Nov. 3) on the final day of the Big Ten Singles Championship at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Navas defeated Minnesota's Julian Dehn, 6-2, 6-3 to take the title.
Navas, who concludes the fall season with a 6-4 record, dropped into the consolation bracket with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 loss to Indiana's Will Kendall in the main draw but rebounded by rattling off five straight wins en route to the title. He opened action in the consolation bracket with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Northwestern's Alex Sanborn and moved into the third round with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Iowa's Tom Murziewicz.
His quarterfinal and semifinal matches proved a little more difficult as both went into a third-set tiebreaker. In quarterfinal action against Patrick Rose from Purdue, Navas opened the match with a 1-0 lead after taking the first set 6-4, but Rose battled back to tie it with a 6-2 win in the second set. Navas was able to pull it out with a 10-8 win in the tiebreak and moved on to face Northwestern's Tobias Reitz in the semifinals.
Navas again opened with an early 1-0 match lead after taking the first set, 7-5, but Reitz tied the match with a 7-5 win in the second set, again forcing a third-set tiebreaker. Navas held his serve and marched into the final with a 10-4 win in the tiebreak.
Jason Jung (Torrance, Calif./West Torrance HS) and Mike Sroczynski (Chatham, N.J./Laurel Springs School) will head to the ITA National Indoor Championship beginning Thursday (Nov. 6).
Following are Navas' complete results:
George Navas
First Round - l. Will Kendall (Indiana), 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
Consolation First Round - d. Alex Sanborn (Northwestern), 6-3, 7-6(6)
Consolation Second Round - d. Tom Murziewicz (Iowa), 6-0, 6-2
Consolation Quarterfinals - d. Patrick Rose (Purdue), 6-4, 2-6, 10-8
Consolation Semifinals - d. Tobias Reitz (Northwestern), 7-5, 5-7, 10-4
Consolation Final - d. Julian Dehn (Minnesota), 6-2, 6-3
Finishes with a 5-1 record (Consolation title winner)
