Michigan
Memphis
Wolverines Upset No. 22 Memphis in Doubleheader Nightcap
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 21, 2015
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: #46 Michigan 6, #22 Memphis 1
Records: U-M (3-5), Memphis (4-3)
Next U-M Event: Thursday, Feb. 26 -- vs. Dartmouth (Varsity Tennis Center), 6 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After winning a tightly contested doubles point, the No. 46-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team won five of six singles matches on its way to a 6-1 upset victory over No. 22 Memphis on Saturday night (Feb. 21) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
U-M scored the match's first point by virtue of doubles wins at the No. 3 and No. 1 positions. The No. 3 tandem of redshirt freshman Davis Crocker and sophomore Tyler Gardiner jumped out to a 4-2 lead and did not look back for a 6-3 victory as the first Michigan team off the court.
After Memphis captured a 6-3 win at the No. 2 spot, the doubles point came down to the No. 1 position, where the Michigan senior tandem of Alex Petrone and Michael Zhu earned a hard-fought 7-6 (5) triumph over the Tiger duo of Connor Glennon and Kai Lemke. Glennon and Lemke raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker, only to see Petrone and Zhu win seven of the next eight points on their way to winning the breaker 7-5 to give the Wolverines the early 1-0 team lead.
Michigan carried the doubles momentum over to singles, where redshirt freshman Alex Knight and freshman Runhao Hua won matches at No. 4 and No. 3 to put the home team on top, 3-0. Knight earned a 6-3, 6-2 win over Patrick Mayer at No. 4, and moments later Hua notched a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ryan Peniston.
Glennon earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Petrone at the top of the singles lineup to give Memphis its first point of the match in the next match off court, but Zhu clinched the match for the Maize and Blue shortly thereafter with an impressive 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over 40th-ranked Andrew Watson at the No. 2 singles position. Zhu, who clinched Michigan's 4-3 win over Cleveland State earlier in the day, won the final four games of the match to secure the fourth point and team victory.
After the fate of the match was already decided, U-M picked up two more singles victories -- both in three sets. Freshman Carter Lin notched a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 come-from-behind win over Shakeel Manji at the No. 6 singles position, and Crocker earned a wild 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (9) triumph over Lemke in the final match on court at the No. 5 spot. Crocker faced deficits of 4-0, 5-2 and 6-4 during the third-set tiebreaker but rallied on each occasion on his way to the dual-match victory.
Michigan concludes its four-match homestand on Thursday (Feb. 26), taking on Dartmouth at the Varsity Tennis Center. The match is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Free admission.
The following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 102 Connor Glennon (Memphis) def. Alex Petrone (U-M), 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 -- Michael Zhu (U-M) def. No. 40 Andrew Watson (Memphis), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
No. 3 -- Runhao Hua (U-M) def. Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 -- Alex Knight (U-M) def. Patrick Mayer (Memphis), 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 -- Davis Crocker (U-M) vs. Kai Lemke (Memphis), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (9)
No. 6 -- Carter Lin (U-M) def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- Alex Petrone/Michael Zhu (U-M) def. Connor Glennon/Kai Lemke (Memphis), 7-6 (5)
No. 2 -- Andrew Watson/Louis Asser (Memphis) def. Runhao Hua/Alex Knight (U-M), 6-3
No. 3 -- Davis Crocker/Tyler Gardiner (U-M) def. Patrick Mayer/Shakeel Manji (Memphis), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2-1, Singles 4-3-1-2-6-5
Communications Contact: Zach Eisendrath (zeisen@umich.edu)
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