bruce berque

The transfer market has come up with some real dandies for the men of the hard court. This summer Michigan welcomes two nationally-ranked singles players to the men's tennis team: Vlad Stefan, formerly of Maryland; and Spencer Newman, formerly of Florida. Both players will be eligible to play in varsity men's tennis matches for Michigan in 2012-13, Stefan as a sophomore and Newman as a junior.

Vlad Stefan is the latest in a long line of Balkan tennis players to take the court for Michigan, the last headliner being of course Matko Maravic. The Romanian native posted a 20-11 record in singles for Maryland this past season as a true freshman, including significant playing time on 2 court. At present Stefan is ranked #97 in ITA men's singles rankings. Stefan will likely compete with Zhu for 3 court honors. It is unfortunate that Maryland is cutting so many varsity sports, including its men's tennis program, but their loss is Michigan's windfall.

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Spencer Newman was a fine singles player for Florida through two seasons, posting a 32-9 record. He is ranked #65 at present, which will make him very strong competition for 2 court assuming Petrone continues his upward trajectory.

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The MMT* continued its hunt for a Big Ten title today, when it beat Penn State 6-1 at home. On Sunday Michigan plays Ohio for championship of the universe. Chart? Chart.

Team and Court	Score
#22 King/Bernstein 1	7—9
Franks/Buzzi 2	9—8(2)
Petrone/Zhu 3	9—8(6)

Name and Court	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
#8 Evan King 1	6—4	6—2
Alex Petrone 2	4—6	6—1	6—0
Shaun Bernstein 3	0—6	3—6
Michael Zhu 4	6—3	6—2
Barrett Franks 5	7—6(5)	6—4
Alex Buzzi 6	6—3	6—1

 

*Michigan Men's Tennis
Bernstein is back in the singles lineup, this time at 3 court. First out with an 0-6 is a nasty way to go but having Bernstein back in action is more important than dropping a point to Penn State. The million dollar question is how efficient his serve is. I was not present at the April 20^th match and highlights of the match available here do not feature any Bernstein serves. Presumably he will be ready for Sunday, which at least lets Buzzi play on 6 again. It was a banner day for the rest of the singles courts. The players showed fine placement and fine footwork, at least in the highlights.

Petrone had a fine day of RAGE on 2 after dropping the first set 4-6, only yielding one point in the next two sets. That's just nasty.

I am still worried about 1 court in doubles(duh, 3 straight losses) but 7-9 isn't half bad. Ohio features the nation's #1 doubles team of #12 Chase Buchanan and #6 Blaz Rola, who play 2 and 1 courts in singles, respectively. Michigan has the #22 ranked doubles team on 1 court, but it has fallen on hard times lately, and Ohio also features the nation's #34 doubles team.

So...we need 4 singles victories. If I had to guess...King. Buzzi. Franks. Zhu. And to make it extra personal, MWT* also plays Ohio on Sunday with the Big Ten on the line at noon at VTC.

Win the Big Ten. Beat Ohio.

*Michigan Women's Tennis

 

While Michigan fans paid at least some attention to the football spring game, B10 second-place Michigan men's tennis was in a dogfight with eighth-place Nebraska on April 14. Michigan won in a close 4-3 decision. Chart? Chart.

Team and Court	Score
King/Bernstein 1	4—8
Franks/Buzzi 2	9—8(9)
Petrone/Zhu 3	8—4

Name and Court	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Evan King 1	6—3	6—1
Alex Petrone 2	5—7	3—6
Michael Zhu 3	3—6	2—6
Barrett Franks 4	6—1	6—1
Alex Buzzi 5	7—6(4)	6—3
Eli Brown 6	5—7	6—2	0—1(5)

Our newly promoted freshmen took some lumps on 2 and 3 court. Zhu on 3 was the first to fall, but Franks made up the difference with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 victory on 4 court. I love seeing Franks play these days, with his confidence and fine placement. King won on 1 and Buzzi won on 5, securing the dual-match victory. Unfortunately fabulous freshman Petrone lost on 2, and Brown dropped the super-tiebreaker set on 6 court. Brown has been dealing with the same issue throughout the season: his first serves do not get in! It cannot be overstated how important it is to get first serves in tennis; the psychological pressure is tenfold greater. Bernstein cannot return to the singles courts fast enough.

In doubles Nebraska pursued a fairly aggressive strategy, with hard serves down the middle of the court and lots of double net-rushes. King/Bernstein fell on 1 court but Franks/Buzzi and Petrone/Zhu held firm on 2 and 3 to secure the doubles point, which eventually clinched the match for Michigan. Nebraska stayed aggressive in singles play but did not have quite enough good shots to win against Michigan.

The match was a quick one, finished in only three hours. All singles matches were decided in straight sets except Brown's super-tiebreaker on 6 court.

On April 15 #22 Michigan welcomed last-place Iowa to the VTC and duly crushed the Hawkeyes. Chart? Chart.

Team and Court	Score
King/Bernstein 1	7—8(2)
Franks/Buzzi 2	8—2
Petrone/Zhu 3	8—3

Name and Court	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Evan King 1	6—2	6—2
Alex Petrone 2	6—1	6—4
Michael Zhu 3	6—3	6—7(7)	1—0(6)
Barrett Franks 4	6—4	4—6	0—1(5)
Alex Buzzi 5	6—2	6—2
Eli Brown 6	6—4	6—3

Probably the most interesting takeaway from this match was the second straight defeat for King/Bernstein in doubles. This was an interesting matchup. Michigan had already clinched the doubles point by winning handily on 2 and 3 courts. At that time the 1 court matchup was tied 7-7 with no breaks(!) to speak of in the match so far. The players agreed to go straight to the tiebreaker, which is usually played when the game is tied 8-8. Unfortunately Bernstein's goofy underhanded doubles serve was predictable, and Iowa's players figured out the pattern and pulled out the tiebreaker. The man at the net would poach and smash Bernstein's shots, or the return man would get a great return on his serve.

Only Franks lost in singles, in the third set super-tiebreaker. Even Brown managed to win his game in straight sets! This game tells us little about what we can expect for the rest of the regular season but I will attempt to predict what the next two matches hold for Michigan. The last time we saw them in action (April 15), Penn State lost 6-1 at home to the Fighting Illini. Thus, Michigan can comfortably expect to win when they play Penn State at home on the 20^th. I predict a 6-1 victory with Brown or Zhu losing in singles.

Ohio...hoo boy. By shutting out Purdue 7-0 in West Lafayette on the 18^th, #3 Ohio has clinched a share of the B10 title for the eighth consecutive season. All singles matches were won in straight sets, and Ohio won all of the doubles matches. The Bobcats currently sit at 10-0 in the B10, and Michigan is at 8-1. Only by winning their last two matches, including on the road in Columbus, could Michigan share the B10 regular season title. This is a tremendous opportunity for Michigan men's tennis; they have not been in a position to win the conference since at least the 1990s. I predict Michigan will put up a fight but fall 5-2. King will win, and possibly Buzzi.

Since Michigan's glorious 7-0 rout of the false god whose name I would prefer not to mention, Michigan Men's Tennis has won three out of their past four Big Ten matches, including two road games. On March 23, 2012, Michigan at Wisconsin lost the doubles point, but won 5 out of 6 singles matches to win, 5-2. It was a truly glorious day for Michigan singles that day. Three out of five victories were decided in straight sets for King, Bernstein, and Zhu (1,2,4 courts). Only 6 court Alex Buzzi lost his match in gritty manball grrrrrrrrrrr fashion, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5.

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Sadly, Michigan will not keep the Little Brown Jug in Ann Arbor this year, as Michigan's March 25, 2012 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Golden Gophers forced Michigan to give up this prized rivalry trophy. Once again the doubles point was lost, and Petrone and Zhu lost in straight sets. Still, to get 3 points in the second road match in 3 days shows composure and mental focus on the part of Michigan to perform as well as they did.

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Back at VTC on March 31, 2012, Michigan beat the Boilermakers 5-2. Michigan's Bernstein, battling a shoulder injury, participated as King's doubles partner on 1 court but did not compete in singles. Bernstein served all underhanded in doubles, causing the ball to die in the opponent's service box multiple times. With Bernstein out of the singles lineup, all Wolverines below King moved up a court. Petrone performed admirably on 2 court for Michigan, winning 6-2, 7-5. Zhu also won in straight sets on 3 court, 7-5, 6-3. Backup Brown lost on 6 court, committing frequent unforced errors and giving off a DOOM aura in the general vicinity. He is not ready to start, but Buzzi was needed on 5 court. One more injury and Michigan will lose its edge in singles competition.

Barrett Franks lost in three sets on 4 court. On the one hand, everyone played up a court and he made it to three sets. Regardless, Franks needs to move his feet better and get set to the look of the ball as it approaches him. In tennis, the movement of the feet and the ease of the stroke by which the player contacts the ball with the sweet spot is paramount. Without nimble footwork it is difficult if not impossible to get good shots on the ball without straining.

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Today, April 1, 2012, Michigan defeated Indiana at the VTC. Full recap from MGoBlue is not yet available yet, but results are up. Chart? Chart:

Doubles:

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Team	Score
King/Bernstein 1	8—6
Franks/Buzzi	1—8
Petrone/Zhu	9—7

Singles:

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Player and Court	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Evan King 1	6—1	6—1
Shaun Bernstein 2	1—6	1—6
Alex Petrone 3	6—2	6—0
Michael Zhu 4	6—2	4—6	1—0 (8)
Barrett Franks 5	1—6	1—4
Alex Buzzi 6	6—2	7—5

At present, Men's 1 court King is rated #10 in the country. Women's 1 court Emina Betkas is rated #10 in the country as well. Congratulations to Michigan's fine 1 courts!