Fenty, Styler, Young Advance in NCAA Singles Championships

Fenty, Styler, Young Advance in NCAA Singles Championships

Site: Lake Nona, Fla. (USTA National Campus)

Event: Score: NCAA Singles Championship (Day 1 of 6)

Score: No Team Scoring

Next U-M Event: Tuesday, May 23 — at NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships (Lake Nona, Fla.), TBD

LAKE NONA, Fla. — Andrew Fenty, Ondrej Styler and Gavin Young on the University of Michigan men’s tennis team each earned opening round victories in the 2023 NCAA Singles Championship on Monday (May 22) at the USTA National Campus.

It marks the first time since 1980 that Michigan’s team has advanced three players to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship.

Young — originally an alternate in singles but replaced South Carolina’s Toby Samuel — was the first match of the day for the Wolverines as he faced a familiar foe in Karlis Ozolins of Illinois. Young played three different Illini this season (Mathias Debru, Hunter Heck and Olivier Okonkwo), posting wins over all three, but was meeting Illinois’ No. 1 player for the first time. Young upended Ozolins in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to advance in his first NCAA Singles Championship. The first set was a set of runs with Ozolins taking a 3-0 lead before Young matched him at 3-3, though Ozolins finished with a 3-0 run. In the second set, Young jumped out to a 3-0 lead and broke Ozolins for the second time to clinch the set 6-2. Up 5-0 in the third, Young gave up just one game as he won 6-1. He will face Columbia’s Michael Zheng in the round of 32.

Fenty made it 2-for-2 for the Wolverines as he defeated Louisville’s Etienne Donnet in three sets. Tied at 5-5, Donnet was able to win two straight to take the first set 7-5. The second set was halted at 4-3, advantage with Fenty, due to weather and moved indoors. Tied at 5-5, Fenty held serve and then broke Donnet for the 7-5 second set. The third was all Fenty as he claimed two break points in a 6-1 victory.

In a much-anticipated rematch, it was once again Styler coming out on top of USC’s Stefan Dostanic 7-6 (12-10), 6-2. Styler had the match-clinching win over Dostanic at the NCAA Super Regional that sent the Wolverines to the quarterfinals. It was another battle in the first set as the two played a 12-10 tiebreak, Styler’s…