Michigan
North Carolina State
Michigan Drops Close Contest at North Carolina State
1/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 24, 2010
Site: Raleigh, N.C. (J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center)
Score: North Carolina State 4, Michigan 3
Records: Michigan (1-1), North Carolina State (4-0)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 30 -- at Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.), 3 p.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Despite wins in singles from freshman Evan King (Chicago, Ill./Laurel Springs Prep) and junior Chris Madden (Lotus, Calif./Ponderosa), the University of Michigan men's tennis team dropped the decision to No. 52 North Carolina State, 4-3, on Sunday (Jan. 24) at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center. The Wolverines leave Raleigh with a split, having defeated Vanderbilt by the same score on Saturday (Jan. 23).
Like the dual match Saturday against Vanderbilt, the contest against the Wolfpack came down to the wire. With the score tied at 3-3, Akash Gujarati (North Carolina State) defeated freshman Chris Cha (Eureka, Mo./University of Missouri High School) at number six in straight sets to secure the win for the home team.
At No. 3, Madden teamed with Cha and wasted little time in dispatching Fernando Banos and Jaime Pulgar to give Michigan an early advantage. Over at No. 1, King and junior Jason Jung (Torrance, Calif./West Torrance) lost a very competitive doubles match to Rob Lowe and Frideric Prandecki, allowing the doubles point to come down to the match at No. 2, where the the senior tandem of George Navas (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory) and Mike Sroczynski (Chatham, N.J./Laurel Springs Prep) won in tiebreakers over Dominic Hodgson and Dave Thomson for their second win on the weekend to put Michigan ahead, 1-0.
In singles, King added another point to the Wolverines' tally with a straight-set win over Lowe at No. 2. Facing a 2-0 deficit, the Wolfpack rallied off three straight singles wins at Nos. 1 (Pulgar over Jung), 4 (Thomson over Navas) and 3 (Hodgson over Sroczynski) to take the lead, 3-2.
After clinching the victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday with his win at No. 5, the pressure once again was placed on Madden's shoulders, and once again, the junior delivered, knotting things up at 3-3 with his win over Paez at No. 5. Things did not stay even for long, however, as Gujatari defeated Cha to give North Carolina State the win.
Michigan returns to the court next Saturday (Jan. 30) against No. 14 Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. The match will start at 3 p.m. and serves as a qualifier for the National Team Indoors. Wake Forest and Minnesota are the other teams competing. The four teams will be competing to advance from the regional and earn a trip to the 16-team field in Charlottesville, Va. (Feb. 12-15). Last year, Michigan beat Cal-Berkeley and VCU to advance to the National Indoors for the first time in 20 years.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Jaime Pulgar (NCSU) d. No. 50 Jason Jung, 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 -- No. 73 Evan King (U-M) d. Rob Lowe, 7-6 (1), 6-4
No. 3 -- Dominic Hodgson (NCSU) d. Mike Sroczynski, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 -- Dave Thomson (NCSU) d. George Navas, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3
No. 5 -- Chris Madden (U-M) d. Rafael Paez, 7-5, 6-2
No. 6 -- Akash Gujarati (NCSU) d. Chris Cha, 7-5, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- Rob Lowe/Frideric Prandecki (NCSU) d. Jason Jung/Evan King, 9-8 (6)
No. 2 -- George Navas/Mike Sroczynski (U-M) d. Dominic Hodgson/Dave Thomson, 9-8 (2)
No. 3 -- Chris Madden/Chris Cha (U-M) d. Fernando Banos/Jaime Pulgar, 8-6
Order of Completion: Doubles: 3, 1, 2; Singes: 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Bruce Berque
On Sunday's match against North Carolina State ... "We are certainly disappointed with the result today. We didn't play as well as we did yesterday and we didn't play the matches we wanted to. Give North Carolina State a lot of credit. They played well. Jason wasn't as sharp today as he was yesterday and the guy he played performed very well. And with the match coming down to Chris, it was a tough situation for him to be in, considering he has been under the weather at times."
On Chris Madden in pressure situations ... "He handles it well and has through his entire career. He showed that this weekend. Nobody is perfect and we all fall short sometimes, but he has been pretty consistent in that area."
On Michigan's doubles play this weekend ... "Overall, I am pretty pleased with the way we are playing doubles. We still have some things we can improve on and certainly can tighten up in some areas. We need to cut down our errors and play more balanced."
Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
