Michigan
Nebraska
Maymi Guides Michigan to Win Over Former Team Nebraska
3/24/2024 4:28:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: Michigan 5, Nebraska 2
Records: U-M (8-10, 2-0 B1G), Nebraska (10-7, 0-2 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 29 – vs. Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.), 5 p.m., CDT
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan men's tennis head coach Sean Maymi guided the Wolverines to a 5-2 win over his former team, Nebraska, on Sunday (March 24) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Michigan captured the doubles point and claimed four of six singles wins to open Big Ten play with its second straight win.
Bjorn Swenson and Mert Oral got things started with a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles. Knotted at 2-2, the pair rattled off three straight games to take a 5-2 lead en route to improving to 2-0 on the season. Nebraska evened things with a win at No. 2 doubles, taking the final two games for a 6-4 score. No. 27 ranked Gavin Young and Jacob Bickersteth came up big after being down 4-1 at No. 1 doubles to earn the point for the Maize and Blue. The Wolverines strung together five straight games to take the match 6-4.
Cooksey made it 2-0 Michigan as he quickly dispatched Lars Johann at No. 4 singles 6-1, 7-5. He broke Johann four times in each set to earn his 10th singles win of the season.
Swenson pushed the Wolverines ahead 3-0 topping Shunya Maruyama 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3. Swenson took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke Maruyama twice while giving up just a single game. In the second set, things were knotted at 4-4 before Swenson broke to take a 5-4 lead and held serve for the win.
The Huskers grabbed their first point at No. 2 singles as Calvin Mueller took 6-4, 7-5 sets from No. 125-ranked Bickersteth. With Michigan leading 3-1, all three remaining singles were pushed into third sets.
Alex Cairo clinched the match point at No. 6 with a fast 6-1 victory in the third. He went down 6-4 in the first and battled back to take a 7-6 (9) second set over Nikolay Sysoev.
No. 15-ranked Young won his third straight match with a victory over Anton Shepp, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 1. Young jumped out to a 4-1 edge in the third set and did not look back for his 12th win of the season.
On the next court, Nicholas Steiglehner came up just short in his third set, falling 6-3 after winning his first set 6-1 and dropping the second 7-6 (3).
Up next for Michigan are road trips to Northwestern on Friday (March 29) at 5 p.m. CDT and No. 15 Illinois on Sunday (March 31) at Noon CDT.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 – No. 15 Gavin Young (U-M) d. Anton Shepp (Nebraska), 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
No. 2 – Calvin Mueller (Nebraska) d. No. 125 Jacob Bickersteth (U-M), 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 – Bjorn Swenson (U-M) d. Shunya Maruyama (Nebraska), 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 – Will Cooksey (U-M) d. Lars Johann (Nebraska), 6-1, 7-5
No. 5 – Roni Hietaranta (Nebraska) d. Nicholas Steiglehner (U-M), 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3
No. 6 – Alex Cairo (U-M) d. Nikolay Sysoev (Nebraska), 4-6, 7-6 (9), 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 – No. 27 Gavin Young/Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) d. Lars Johann/Calvin Mueller (Nebraska), 6-4
No. 2 – Shunya Maruyama/Anton Shepp (Nebraska) d. Alex Cairo/Will Cooksey (U-M), 6-4
No. 3 – Bjorn Swenson/Mert Oral (U-M) d. Leo Linquet/Nikolay Sysoev (Nebraska), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2-1, Singles 4-3-2-6-1-5
Players Mentioned
