Michigan
Northwestern
Michigan Wins ITA Kick-Off to Advance to Indoor Championship
1/29/2023 6:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis
» Andrew Fenty tied Evan King as the winningest Wolverine in program history with 195 victories.
» Michigan won its third ITA Kick-Off and reaches the ITA National Indoors for the third time since 2009.
» The Wolverines have won the doubles point in all six matches this season.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Event: ITA Kick Off (Day 2 of 2)
Score: #4 Michigan 4, #24 Northwestern 0
Records: U-M (6-0), Northwestern (4-2)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Feb. 3 -- at Baylor, 5 p.m. CST
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team won the ITA Kick-Off on Sunday (Jan. 29) with a 4-0 win over No. 24 Northwestern on Sunday (Jan. 29) at the Varsity Tennis Center. With the victory, the Wolverines punched their ticket to the ITA Indoor National Championship, Feb. 17-20 in Chicago.
Ondrej Styler clinched the team match for Michigan (6-0), winning a third-set tiebreak at No. 2 singles to defeat Ivan Yatsuk 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (4).
For the sixth straight match, the Wolverines claimed the doubles point after a battle at No. 3, where Will Cooksey and Jacob Bickersteth jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Wildcats Trice Pickens and Natan Spear won four straight to take over, 4-2. Michigan responded with its own 3-0 run to take a 5-4 edge, but the lead was exchanged again after Northwestern won two more for a 6-5 advantage. Down 40-15 in the 12th game, Cooksey and Bickerseth won three straight points to knot the match at 6-6 to force the tiebreaker. It was all Maize and Blue in the tiebreaker as they went up 5-1 before taking the set and match with a 7-2 score.
Patrick Maloney and Styler dominated at No. 2 with a 6-1 win over Steven Forman and Felix Nordby. No. 14-ranked Andrew Fenty and Gavin Young lost their first dual match of the season, moving to 10-4 in doubles play with a 6-4 loss to Simen Bratholm and Yatsuk. The Wolverines had the lead 3-2 before the Wildcats won three straight games to go up 5-3. Fenty and Young got a game back on serve but could not break the Northwestern duo in the final game for the 6-4 decision.
In singles play, Bickersteth and Fenty won in straight sets to push Michigan ahead 3-0 in the team match. Bickersteth defeated Presley Thieneman 6-1 in the first set and came back from being down 3-1 to win 6-4 in the second.
Moments later, Fenty claimed his fourth straight singles win, topping Bratholm with matching 6-2 scores. It marked Fenty's 195th victory as a Wolverine (95 singles, 100 doubles) to tie Evan King as the winningest Wolverine in program history.
The remaining four courts went to three sets before they were abandoned. Maloney split 6-4 sets with Forman at No. 1 before the match was halted in the third set with Forman ahead 4-3. Young had just fallen in a second-set tiebreaker 7-6 (1) after winning the first 7-5. Cooksey and Gleb Blekher were in the third with Blekher holding a 5-3 edge before Styler finished off Yatsuk.
After winning a 6-4 first set, No. 16-ranked Styler dropped a 6-0 match to Yatsuk to force a third. Yatsuk was up 4-2 in the third before Styler won two straight to even it at 4-4, and they split the last two games. In the tiebreaker, Yatsuk grabbed a 2-0 lead, but Styler responded with a 3-1 run to knot things at 3-3. He claimed three straight points to push ahead 6-3, before Yatsuk tallied his final point and Styler won the match on the next game.
Next up for Michigan is its first road trip of the dual season, traveling to Waco, Texas for a matchup with Baylor on Friday (Feb. 3) at 5 p.m. CST. The Wolverines will return to the VTC on Sunday (Feb. 5) when they face Harvard at noon.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 – Patrick Maloney (U-M) vs. Steven Forman (NU), 4-6, 6-4, 3-4 abandoned
No. 2 – No. 16 Ondrej Styler (U-M) d. Ivan Yatsuk (NU), 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 – No. 6 Andrew Fenty (U-M) d. Simen Bratholm (NU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 – No. 20 Gavin Young (U-M) vs. Trice Pickens (NU), 7-5, 6-7 (1-7) abandoned
No. 5 – Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) d. Presley Thieneman (NU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 – Will Cooksey (U-M) vs. Gleb Blekher (NU), 3-6, 6-4, 3-5 abandoned
Doubles
No. 1 – Simen Bratholm/Ivan Yatsuk (NU) d. No. 14 Gavin Young/Andrew Fenty (U-M), 6-4
No. 2 – Ondrej Styler/Patrick Maloney (U-M) d. Steven Forman/Felix Nordby (NU), 6-1
No. 3 – Will Cooksey/Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) d. Trice Pickens/Natan Spear (NU), 7-6 (2)
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 5-3-2
Players Mentioned
