Michigan
Notre Dame
Knight's Heroics Lead Michigan Past No. 17 Irish
2/23/2018 11:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis
» The Wolverines clinched the match with a 10-8 third-set tiebreak win by Alex Knight.
» Carter Lin improved to 6-0 in singles matches this season.
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Eck Tennis Pavilion)
Score: #12Â Michigan 4, #17 Notre Dame 3
Records: U-M (8-2), ND (7-4)
Next U-M Event: Thursday, March 1 -- at Duke University (Durham, N.C.), 1 p.m.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The No. 12-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team defeated No. 17 Notre Dame, 4-3, on Friday night (Feb. 23) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Wolverines clinched the match with a 10-8 third-set tiebreak win by Alex Knight at No. 1 singles.
U-M dropped the No. 3 doubles match, 6-2, but the duo of senior Runhao Hua and freshman Mattias Siimar helped the Wolverines bounce back by winning No. 1 doubles, 6-3. Notre Dame did not go away, winning the third doubles match in a tiebreaker, 8-6, in order to earn the first point.
Michigan started strong in singles, with all but one winning the first set of their matches. Seniors Carter Lin and Davis Crocker earned two early points for the Wolverines after winning each of their matches in straight sets. Notre Dame quickly answered winning the No. 3 and No .6 singles matches, leaving U-M down, 3-2, with two singles matches left to play.
Knowing the match was on the line, Hua came up huge for the Wolverines winning the third set tiebreaker to knot the score at three apiece, leaving only senior Alex Knight in the No. 1 singles match left to play. Knight won the tiebreak in the first set of the match but dropped the second tiebreak. He came back in the third set and stole the third tiebreaker of the match, 10-8, to clinch the victory for U-M.
Michigan will continue its road swing on Thursday, March 1 when it faces Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, at 3Â p.m.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Alex Knight (U-M) def Alex Lebedev (ND), 7-6 (9), 6-7 (10), 7-6 (8)
No. 2 -- Runhao Hua (U-M) def. Guillermo Cabrera (ND), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 4
No. 3 -- Richard Cimarra (ND) def. Mattias Siimar (U-M), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
No. 4 -- Carter Lin (U-M) def. Tristan McCormick (ND), 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 -- Davis Crocker (U-M) def. Matt Gamble (ND), 7-6, 6-3 Â
No. 6 -- William Howells (ND) def. Kristofer Siimar (U-M), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- Runhao Hua/Mattias Siimar (U-M) def. Brendon Kempin/Tristan McCormick (ND), 6-3
No. 2 -- Richard Ciamarra/Matt Gamble (ND) def. Alex Knight/Connor Johnston (U-M), 7-6(8)
No. 3 -- Guillermo Cabrera/Alex Lebedev (ND) def. Harrison Brown/Davis Crocker (U-M), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles: 3-1-2; Singles: 4-5-3-6-2-1
Players Mentioned
