No. 23 Minnesota Snaps No. 25 Miami's Win Streak
March 18, 2011
CORAL GABLES, FLA. – No. 23 Minnesota rallied to defeat the No. 25 University of Miami men’s tennis squad, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center – snapping the Hurricanes’ five-match win streak.
The Gophers (9-2), who have now won eight of their last nine matches, were trailing 3-2 as the remaining singles matches at No. 1 and No. 4 headed into third sets.
At No. 4, Miami’s Carl Sundberg battled back after falling behind 5-2 in the final set to knot it at 5-all. But Minnesota’s Brendan Ruddock claimed the final two games and used the 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 decision to tie the overall match at 3-3.
At No. 1, Miami’s Christian Blöcker evened up his match after dropping the first set 6-3, with his own 6-3 decision in the second set.With everything on the line, Blöckerand Minnesota’s Rok Bonin traded games in an intense third set, with Bonin eventually edging Blöcker – and the Hurricanes (8-4) – with the 7-6 win.
“That was a tough loss for us,” said Miami head coach Mario Rincon. “Minnesota played really well. I felt like we should have played much better in doubles and that was the determining factor in the end. We had a bunch of opportunities, but unfortunately things didn’t go our way. Our guys competed hard, but we needed a little bit of luck today to win that match.”
All-American Carl Sundberg and Blöcker jumped out with the 8-3 victory at No. 2 doubles for the Hurricanes, but the Gophers were victorious at No. 1 and 3 to claim the doubles point for the early 1-0 lead.
Miami’s Gabriel Flores wasted no time in evening things up at 1-all with his sixth-straight singles victory at No. 6, 6-3, 6-1.
Minnesota re-took the lead with the straight sets victory at No. 2, but the Hurricanes responded with back-to-back wins by Keith Crowley at No. 3 – his sixth-straight singles win – and Eduardo Pavia at No. 5 to go up 3-2. But the Gophers would take the final two matches – and the 4-3 victory.
“It was a great college match that came down right to the end,” added Rincon. “But right now we need to concentrate and focus on our match on Sunday against Clemson.”
The Hurricanes continue their five-match homestand on Sun., March 20 with an ACC match versus Clemson at 1 p.m. Admission is free to all regular-season matches at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
#23 Minnesota 4, #25 Miami 3
Singles
1. Rok Bonin (MINN) def. Christian Blocker (UM) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6
2. Tobias Wernet (MINN) def. Waylon Chin (UM) 6-4, 6-1
3. Keith Crowley (UM) def. Phillip Arndt (MINN) 6-4, 6-3
4. Brendan Ruddock (MINN) def. Carl Sundberg (UM) 7-6, 3-6, 7-5
5. Eduardo Pavia (UM) def. Julian Dehn (MINN) 7-6, 6-1
6. Gabriel Flores (UM) def. Michael Sicora (MINN) 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 2, 3, 5, 4, 1*
Doubles
1. Sebastian Gallego/Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Keith Crowley/Waylon Chin (UM) 8-5
2. Carl Sundberg/Christian Blocker (UM) def. Tobias Wernet/Rok Bonin (MINN) 8-3
3. Brendan Ruddock/Julian Dehn (MINN) def. Omar Aly/Santiago Nieto (UM) 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3*
