Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan Falls to Ohio State in Regular-Season Finale
4/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Site: Columbus, Ohio (Stickney Tennis Center)
Score: #2 Ohio State 7, #15 Michigan 0
Records: U-M (17-5, 7-3 Big Ten), Ohio State (29-1, 10-0 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match:Friday, April 25-- vs. Penn State at Big Ten Championship (Iowa City, Iowa), 10 a.m. CDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team closed out the regular season with a 7-0 setback to No. 2-ranked Ohio State Sunday afternoon (April 20) at the Stickney Tennis Center. The Wolverines (17-5, 7-3 Big Ten) fell just short of taking the doubles point, and the Buckeyes (29-1, 10-0 Big Ten) went on to win all six singles matches and clinch their ninth straight victory over U-M. With the loss, Michigan finishes the Big Ten Conference season in fourth place and will enter next weekend's league tournament as the No. 4 seed.
Ohio State jumped out in front thanks to the No. 19-ranked doubles tandem of Bryan Koniecko and Steven Moneke, which posted an 8-2 win over U-M's No. 14-ranked duo of sophomore Mike Sroczynski(Chatham, N.J./Laurel Springs School) and freshman Jason Jung(Torrance, Calif./West Torrance HS) at No. 2. Senior Matko Maravic(Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimanzija) and junior Andrew Mazlin(Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman HS) gave a solid effort but came up just shy in a 9-7 defeat to OSU's No. 23-ranked pair of Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge at No. 1.
Sophomore George Navas(Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory School) and freshman Chris Madden(Lotus, Calif./Ponderosa HS) prevented the Buckeye doubles sweep by earning an 8-5 triumph over Mike O'Connell and Balazs Novak at No. 3. Navas and Madden have won five of seven together in 2007-08 and hold a perfect 3-0 record in dual-match play.
Ohio State tallied straight-set singles wins at Nos. 1, 3 and 6 to wrap up the team victory. Sroczynski came up just short in his comeback attempt against Shuhei Uzawa at No. 4, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(5), while Jung took No. 21-ranked Kronauge to the brink of elimination at No. 2 before falling, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(8). Madden nearly notched his 11th straight win, but Eberly came away with a super-tiebreaker win at No. 5, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(12).
The Wolverines will enter the 2008 Big Ten Championship as the No.4 seed and will meet No. 5 seed Penn State in the quarterfinals on Friday (April 25) at10 a.m.CDT.The team tournament will be played April 24-27 at the University of Iowa's Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex in Iowa City, Iowa.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #14 Bryan Koniecko (Ohio State) d. #47 Matko Maravic, 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 -- #21 Justin Kronauge (Ohio State) d. Jason Jung, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(8)
No. 3 -- #24 Steven Moneke (Ohio State) d. Andrew Mazlin, 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 -- Shuhei Uzawa (Ohio State) d. Mike Sroczynski, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(5)
No. 5 -- Drew Eberly (Ohio State) d. Chris Madden, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(12)
No. 6 -- Balazs Novak (Ohio State) d. George Navas, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- #23 Eberly/Kronauge (Ohio State) d. Maravic/Mazlin, 9-7
No. 2 -- #19 Koniecko/Moneke (Ohio State) d. #30 Jung/Sroczynski, 8-2
No. 3 -- Madden/George Navas (U-M) d. Mike O'Connell/Novak, 8-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 1-3-6-4-2-5
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
