Feb. 11, 2012
SEATTLE - The Husky men's tennis team was eager for a challenge at home and 28th-ranked Michigan provided the opportunity today at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Washington seized hold of the chance and rolled to a 6-1 victory, posting straight set singles wins on five courts. Washington improves to 5-2 on the year and bounced back from a pair of tough road setbacks with a convincing win over a top-30 opponent. "Only a couple of tiebreakers got away from us, and we need to do better with that, but overall we just made a lot less errors," said Head Coach Matt Anger. "If we can do that, I know that we're tough competitors, so if we're not giving away anything we're going to be tough to play against." The No. 1 singles match put two top-15 players head-to-head in 15th-ranked Husky junior Kyle McMorrow and Michigan's sixth-ranked Evan King. The Huskies had already secured the team victory by the time the top match was decided, but McMorrow's 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory was no less sweet because of it. McMorrow also earned a win over King in a national singles tournament this past fall. "King is a very solid all-around player, and for Kyle to get him twice this year says a lot right there. He's been working really hard and doing a lot of good things and it's great for him to get a reward for that." Up 1-0 after doubles, the Huskies took command quickly in singles play thanks to a trio of freshmen. Emmett Egger got a big win at second singles, defeating Shaun Bernstein, 6-2, 6-3. That was followed by a 6-3, 6-3 win for Viktor Farkas over Michael Zhu in the No. 4 spot. Washington clinched when redshirt frosh Nicholas Kamisar polished off a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 over Alex Buzzi. Not long after, junior Marton Bots posted another point with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Alex Petrone in the third singles match. After McMorrow's win made it 6-0, the Wolverines earned the last point, as sophomore Max Manthou lost a marathon No. 5 singles match to Barrett Franks that saw tiebreakers in the first two sets, followed by a third-set super-tiebreak that Franks won, 10-3. The Huskies brought great focus to the doubles courts to start the match. The Huskies pulled ahead in the second and third matches, while the No. 1 match was a nailbiter all the way through. Jeff Hawke and Max Manthou got the first win at second doubles, topping Franks and Buzzi, 8-5. UW's top duo of McMorrow and Egger were then edged in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-3), to tie up the point, but senior Matt Stith and junior Marton Bots pulled away at third doubles for an 8-4 win over Michigan's Petrone and Zhu. Tomorrow the Huskies are back in action against UC Santa Barbara with first serve at 12 noon.
Washington Men's Tennis No. 26 Washington 6, No. 28 Michigan 1 Doubles Singles |
