An early look at Michigan men's tennis
*For an explanation of NCAA scoring matches, see Appendix A.
Big Ten play is still over a month away, but plenty has already happened in the 2011-2012 Michigan men's tennis season. Following Saturday's 5-2 win over #32 LSU, the #28 Wolverines are 4-2 on the year. The two 4-3 losses on the year so far were tough matchups against top ranked #10 Duke and #21 Texas Tech.
The last time we saw the Wolverines in action vs. LSU at the Varsity Tennis Center Saturday last, the Wolverines gave up their first doubles point of the year. No. 3 court Petrone/Zhu (both freshmen) fell 3-8, while on No. 2 court, Buzzi/Franks (sophomores) gamely played on after dropping the break, falling 6-8. King/Bernstein (Jr/Soph) rolled 8-3 on No. 1 court. LSU's players served up many lobs on the doubles courts, testing Michigan's deployment of both men beyond the baseline at times.
In singles Michigan players won all but one of their matches. On court 2 Bernstein won a grueling three-set decision, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6. King(1), Petrone(3), and Zhu(4) won their matches easily in two sets. On court 5 Franks had to stay focused at the end but also prevailed in two, 6-4, 7-5.
Implications for Big Ten play and NCAA Championships
In the Big Ten it's all about the fight for second, and Michigan is as competitive as any team in the league. As much as it pains me to say it, this Michigan team will probably not have what it takes to defeat the Ohio State buzzsaw. #3 Ohio is loaded top to bottom like always and will probably overpower Michigan's young team. Even with the somewhat more seasoned teams of a few years back, scoring one or even two points on Ohio represented a fantastic effort on the part of Michigan's players. King, the #6-rated singles player in the nation, defeated two of Ohio's starters at the October Midwest Regional, clipping #2 Blaz Rolo 7-5, 7-5, and #5 Chase Buchanan 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.
Even with King holding down court 1, the rest of the team is very young. King is the only upperclassman on the team. The style of the team has adjusted somewhat with its youth. Power serving is no longer the preferred style of half of the starters, since no one has a dominant or consistent enough power serve. King has the best serve by far on the team. Unfortunately Bernstein and Buzzi have trouble avoiding double faults and hitting their serves at angles designed to force the defenders into difficult shots. True freshmen are playing scored singles matches. The good news is that everyone comes back next year with more experience and weight training. For the moment it's very much a quick-oriented team, much more so than the Maravic-esque long volleys of yesteryear. A smaller team is more vulnerable to being pushed around the court by tall power tennis players. Fortunately LSU did not have the right kind of roster to beat this team. In fact some of their players were serving up multiple double faults even in doubles play.
Michigan will get some nice wins and drop some close calls on the road while looking to extend their six-year NCAA Championships streak. 13-11 qualified the team in 2010-11. Penciling in likely wins covers Hawaii, MSU(terrible), @Minnesota(lost to LSU 4-0), Purdue, Nebraska, Iowa at 10-2. Michigan would need only 3 more wins to match its record from last year. With some decent breaks Michigan can qualify for the NCAA championships for the seventh year.
Appendix A: NCAA Scoring Matches, Odds and Ends
In NCAA men's college tennis serving, there is no such thing as a "let". If the ball hits the net and then falls in the service box, it counts as a legal serve and must be returned. For the most part this inexplicable rule keeps a few net-kissed top-spin shots in bounds but there are occasional inadvertant drop shot "serves" created that amount to free points for the server. So it goes.
Scoring matches (regular season)
Begin with three doubles courts. Each plays a single set to 8 winning by 2 or tiebreaker at 8-8. Whichever school wins 2 out of the 3 doubles matches gets one match point. After a 20-minute break the 6 singles matches begin. Each singles match is worth one match point for the team. Whichever team scores 4 points first wins the match, although 7-0 routs are not uncommon.
Singles matches can be two sets long, two sets with a super-tiebreaker if the game goes to three sets after the outcome of the match has been decided, or three sets if the outcome of the match has not been decided. The sets are played to 6, win by 2, tiebreak at 6-6.
Scoring matches (Tournament)
Same basic structure as regular season scoring matches. However, when two courts from the same team win in doubles, doubles play is over on the spot. This can sometimes cut the third game short. Singles matches are played until one team scores 4 points, at which point all singles matches remaining are called off. The idea is to help preserve the health of the players with an extended four- or five-day tournament schedule.
Appendix B: Chart? Chart! Standings as of February 7, 2012.
| Singles | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Bernstein | 3—2 | ||||||
| Brown | 2—1 | ||||||
| Buzzi | 0—2 | ||||||
| Franks | 4—2 | ||||||
| King | 5—1 | ||||||
| Petrone | 4—2 | ||||||
| Rossi | |||||||
| Zhu | 4—1 | ||||||
| Totals | 5—1 | 3—2 | 4—2 | 4—1 | 4—2 | 2—3 | 22—11 |
| Doubles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court | 1 | 2 | 3 | Dual |
| Bernstein/King | 4—1 | 4—1 | ||
| Buzzi/Franks | 1—3 | 1—0 | 2—3 | |
| Buzzi/Zhu | ||||
| Brown/Petrone | ||||
| Franks/Petrone | ||||
| Petrone/Zhu | 1—0 | 4—1 | 5—1 | |
| Rossi/Zhu | ||||
| Totals | 4—1 | 2—3 | 5—1 | 11—5 |
February 7th, 2012 at 10:41 PM ^
Michigan is coming into my hometown (Seattle) to play UW this Sat.
I will be there to cheer them on!
P.S. I like the no let rule. I wish everyone would use it.
February 7th, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^
My flight arrives in Seattle around 11am so am hoping to make a detour on the way home to check out the match.
No Let Rule:
I am okay with it for World Team Tennis to make it different and to add another feature to it. However, I don't think the NCAA should have implemented it until it was the norm for professional tennis.
Also, high school tennis is tossing around the idea of putting it in and as a high school coach, I am completely against that. Most athletes aren't able to respond quickly enough and have enough hand-eye coordination to make it work. On top of that, you are lucky to get high school courts with the correct 36" net height let alone the correct tension on the net. This causes the ball to trickle over the net far too often and would be an Ace according to No Let.
February 8th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^
I don't understand why let is okay during regular play but not okay during a serve. Treating the let the same all the time simplifies the game and reduces questionable calls. It is a good thing and it should be the rule for everyone.
February 8th, 2012 at 2:44 AM ^
I am also situated in the Seattle area and plan to take in the tennis action this weekend. Go Blue!
For those in the know regarding Michigan tennis, I have a question. The women's team seems to have a bright future, loaded with very talented freshmen and sophomores. They have the look of a top 5 team over the next few years. I am curious though, about Sam Critser. She was playing regularly last year as a freshman, but has not appeared in a single match this year. Is she injured, or has she just been passed over by the freshmen?
February 8th, 2012 at 3:56 AM ^
and I have no idea on the details of the injury of when she is expected to return. The
tennis team is strong with Bektas at #1. Legit high end player plus you have Bolender
who is a strong #2. Assuming Critser comes back then I would assume she will eventually
take over the #3 spot with Nguyen moving down to #4.
They also have a solid player coming in next year (Ronit Yurovsky?)..apologize if the spelling is not correct..top 10 junior. UM will be a threat to get the the final 4 next year. This year I think they break through to the sweet 16 assuming Critser comes back close to 100%.
Berque seems to have recruited a very solid class with Petrone/Zhu/Brown who all seem to be solid singles players. If King stays and Bernstein continues his improvement then UM could fight for the title next year. Rossi is injured too but a lineup of King/Bernstein/Petrone/Zhu is formidable.
You need guys who can win in singles more than doubles although ideally you want to win the doubles point. Zhu is a beautiful ball striker and Petrone looks to compete hard. OSU competes extremely hard along with having unbelieveable talent. I have seen the team play on video and in person a number of times.
This is probably the most talented team Berque has had and it has been a slow process getting this program to the upper echelon of the BT. One last thing..I think UM has a commitment from Gardiner but there are some other guys in Michigan like Murray and Covaleschi (spelling?) who are highly ranked.
If King stays for next year then UM could compete with OSU for a title. The players seem to have the talent and mindset to compete but need to improve and add 1 more high end player.
John W.
February 8th, 2012 at 4:46 AM ^
Thanks for the info. Since you appear to be knowledgeable on the program, I have a follow up question.
How can Michigan be recruiting multiple new men's players when they have no seniors on the roster and the NCAA limits men's tennis to 4.5 scholarships? Are most of the players on partial schollies?
February 8th, 2012 at 9:38 AM ^
Full scholarships in men's sports are rare outside of football and basketball (which are not allowed to split scholarships). Even in hockey, where you have 18 scholarships and a 25-man roster, the top players are more likely to have a 90 percent scholarship than a full scholarship. I have heard it said that it's impossible to get a full scholarship anywhere in baseball (which is allowed 11.7 scholarships for a team of at least 28 or so).
I'm guessing that a tennis team (8-man roster, 4.5 scholarships) would have some players on 50 percent scholarship and some on 75 percent scholarship, but probably not much more than that.
February 10th, 2012 at 10:36 AM ^
how many schollies are on a tennis team. Interesting.
I guess these coaches have to offer more money to the high end players? or find grant
money for some of these guys to supplement partial schollies?
Maybe the key is to find academic standouts.
John W.
February 8th, 2012 at 6:40 AM ^
It is great to see the team playing this well without Sam. I'm not sure what her situation is, but assume it is some sort of minor injury.
The women's team has had movement up and down the lineup year to year on a regular basis more than expected (except for this year), but that could be because of upcoming competition level, level of play to other players changing, etc etc. The most recent one I've noticed is Mimi:
As a freshmen: 7-2 at No. 3, 9-1 at No. 4, 5-1 at No. 5, 1-0 at No. 6
As a sophomore: 1-0 at No. 3, 3-0 at No. 4, 4-6 at No. 5, 6-2 at No. 6
As a junior: 4-1 at No. 3
She has experience all over the place as more of a grinder and an underdog, but also could show how the depth of the team was suspect before and wasn't that strong at the bottom even though it may have been more experienced.
It is nice to see that the same 6 girls have been able to succeed thus far without Sam and hopefully she can come back soon and be the contributor she was last year.
Good luck to both teams, they are both strong groups and getting stronger. Hope to see the women not only win the big ten and keep the season championship away from Northwestern, but beat them in the B1G Tournament where they beat us 4-3 at home in the final to take their 13th straight Tournament title.
Also..keep up the tennis threads on MGoBoard and and Diaries, there is definitely a strong fanbase for these teams.
February 10th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^
Clemson at the Indoor tourney. #3 doubles. Good to see her in the lineup.
John W.
February 8th, 2012 at 4:18 AM ^
a slight disagreement with your assertion of tall power players vs. quicker oriented
players. I think the tall power players have the obvious advantage in doubles but
you can't get too caught up in sacrificing the singles player for the doubles player.
Unless the player has a dominant serve then in college tennis you are better off
with the skilled grinder who wants to compete hard and can handle the road/home
college environment.
The big exception is the dominant server..see Bektas. I don't think UM will see big dominant servers down between 3-6 positions where a grinder can find a way to win. It's why I am excited about Petrone and Zhu..they can move well and are complete players.
Its ideal to have a power player(s) on your team so you can have a couple of doubles
teams or at least 2 teams who can get the point. Berque gets it. You need 1 pt from doubles
but you can't sacrifice singles. He needs a male version of Bektas.
Jung was a great competitor. UM needs a high end competitor and next year they could break through assuming guys develop.
John W.
February 8th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^
for your outstanding contributions to the discussion. The singles vs. doubles dilemma is definitely something to consider when building a roster. It seems to me that the prototypical Berque team called for solid greats at 1 and/or 2 and lots of power guys on the other courts. Maravic, Hung, and Jung were all extremely solid players and played well for Michigan's top courts. I'm more used to seeing players like Madden, Mazlin, Navas, Srocynski on the singles courts relying on their strong first serves to put the opponent off balance. Of course Srocynski had trouble with mental errors and double faults as an upperclassman but he was a solid No. 2 court as a sophomore. Navas on a good day could play court 3 and use his power to help control the court and minimize his weaknesses, such as missing easy shots at the net (sad face).
If more grinder players making the team more versatile in singles while sacrificing some power in doubles is the way to go, then I'm all for it. It seems a little sad though, without lots of power guys on the roster. We have a year to get the next King on campus and hopefully Petrone and Zhu step up their games as sophomores.
February 8th, 2012 at 5:50 PM ^
Do schools compete for players by offering them bigger scholarships?
February 10th, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
Thanks for the analysis. Hoping they get a few matches on BTN so I can watch them.
February 13th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
for the update. Looking forward to see how they do this season.
Comments