Wolverines Fall in B1G Tournament Title Match

Wolverines Fall in B1G Tournament Title Match

Site: Bloomington, Ind. (IU Tennis Center)

Score: #7 Michigan 0, #3 OSU 4

Records: U-M (24-4), OSU (29-2)

Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 6 — at NCAA Tournament (Campus Sites), TBA

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan men’s tennis team fell, 4-0, to No. 3 Ohio State University in the B1G Tournament championship on Sunday (April 30) on the campus of Indiana University.

It was a fight to the finish in doubles with the match coming down to No. 2 doubles in a tiebreaker. No. 10-ranked Andrew Lutschaunig/James Trotter went up 3-1 over Patrick Maloney and Nino Ehrenschneider before U-M won three straight points, including one on a penalty, to take its first lead, 4-3. Michigan had a chance to close it out when it was up 6-4 and 6-5 but OSU won both points and regained the lead on the next. The Wolverines matched it to make it 7-7 but the Buckeyes grabbed the last two points to secure the doubles point.

No. 7 ranked Andrew Fenty and Gavin Young won a 6-4 match at No. 1 over No. 27 ranked Robert Cash/Justin Boulais. It was a break point for the Wolverines that gave them their first lead of the match, 5-4, and they held serve to win it 6-4. It marks their ninth straight win, matching their career-longest streak as they improve to 28-7 on the season.

Ondrej Styler and Jacob Bickersteth dropped three straight games that pushed Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy to a 5-2 advantage. The duo was able to hold serve to make it 5-3 but OSU took the match on the next service.

Michigan found itself in a hole, as it won just one first set in singles as Ehrenschneider took a 7-5 match from Alexander Bernard, winning five of the last six points.

OSU took a 3-0 advantage with wins at No. 6 and No. 5 in succession, while the remaining four second sets were deadlocked on each court.

Maloney broke Tracy and held serve to take a 7-5 match at No. 3 singles, forcing a third set.

Styler held serve to take a 6-5 edge over Kingsley, trying to stave off his first loss in 14 matches, but after Kingsley held to make it 6-6, the tiebreaker was on. Styler took a 4-1 lead and finished with a 7-3 score to win the set and force a third.

However, Fenty trailed 4-5 and was broken by Boulais as…