Michigan Beats Northwestern, Advances to B1G Tournament Championship Match

Michigan Beats Northwestern, Advances to B1G Tournament Championship Match

Site: Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)

Score: #2 Michigan 4, #3 Northwestern 2

Records: U-M (24-3), NU (20-9)

Next U-M Event:Sunday, April 30 — vs. #3 Ohio State – Big Ten Tournament championship match (Bloomington, Ind.), Noon

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan men’s tennis team earned a rematch with Ohio State after defeating Northwestern 4-2 in Saturday’s (April 29) Big Ten Tournament semifinal.

Thw Wolverines will battle the Buckeyes in the championship match on Sunday (April 30) at noon, looking to avenge its only conference los of the season. The match will be streamed live on B1G+.

In a nail-biter match, it was No. 36-ranked Patrick Maloney that secured the fourth point for Michigan at No. 3 singles.

Northwestern got on the board with Ivan Yatsuk’s 6-3, 6-0 upset of No. 16 Andrew Fenty at No. 2 singles.

Michigan won first sets at Nos. 1 and 6, while the Wildcats were up sets at Nos. 3, 4 and 5. The Wolverines started to find momentum, winning second sets at 3, 4 and 5 before a momentary weather delay.

Nino Ehrenschneider earned Michigan’s second point, overcoming a 6-3 first-set loss with 6-1 and 6-3 sets over Trice Pickens.

No. 10 Ondrej Styler, who won five straight points to take a 6-1 first set over No. 25 Steven Forman, found himself trailing 4-0 in the second before a monster comeback. After finding confidence on winning the next two games, he tied it at 5-5 and eventually a tiebreaker. Down 3-0 in the tiebreak, Styler won four straight to take the lead 4-3. Styler and Forman traded points before Styler closed with two straight for the 7-5 final.

Northwestern got another point at No. 6 as Jacob Bickersteth lost 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, making it a 3-2 team score.

Maloney and No. 59 Gavin Young were both in third sets that decided the match.

Maloney broke Simen Bratholm to take a 3-2 lead and went ahead 4-2 on his next serve. Bratholm returned the break, 4-3, but Maloney broke him again and held serve to take the 6-4 third set.

Young and Presley Thieneman were tied 4-4 before Young broke him to take a 5-4 lead, before the match was abandoned following Maloney’s math clincher.

The Wolverines earned the…