UW Drops 4-3 Match to Minnesota

Friday, March 2

Seattle, WA

5:00 PM

University of Washington

Minnesota

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

March 02, 2018 | Men's Tennis

SEATTLE – After strong doubles play, No. 47 Washington men's tennis struggled in singles and fell in a close 4-3 match against No. 33 Minnesota in the Nordstrom Tennis Center on Friday.

"I'm frustrated," Washington head coach Matt Anger said. "I know a lot of their (Minnesota's) guys and we have had good battles with them, so I knew we were going to have good matches. Their team did a good job, played hard. Our team did too, but we had some lapses. I think we are capable of being very, very good, but we need each guy on it and without lapses, and I don't think we did that today."

The three doubles sets were all tightly contested from start to finish. Only No. 2 doubles with Piers Foley and Mitch Stewart saw one duo stay ahead the whole time with the Huskies keeping the lead to win 6-4.

At No. 1 and 3 doubles, neither team was able to hold a team as the other would continue to tie it back up. However, Jack Davis and Jake Douglas at No. 3 doubles strung two games together after being tied 4-4 to take the set and clinch the doubles point. Kawika Lam and Enzo Sommer were down 6-5 when the singles point was decided, abandoning their set.

Courts one and two had a hard time against the Gophers. Both Douglas and Stewart lost their first sets, 6-0. Douglas fell in the second set, 6-2, but Stewart was close to a third set. He forced a tiebreaker in the second set, ultimately falling in 7-4 to lose the match, 6-0, 7-6(4).

Two Huskies came up big for the team to make it a close match. Amit Batta at No. 4 singles played a hard match, holding the lead for the majority of the time. He won in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Freshman Alexis Alvarez fought hard to earn every game in his match, also winning in two sets, 7-5, 7-5.

Sommer's match on court three was another match that saw a tiebreaker. After dropping the first set, 6-4, he fought back from trailing 3-1 to tie it up, 5-5. It then tied at 6-6 to go to a tiebreaker. Sommer tied it at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, but No. 45 Stefan Milicevic won two straight points to win the match. Alvarez won his match right after that, tying the team score at 3-3.

It came down to Foley's match at No. 5 singles, but he was in a tricky spot when the dual match was on the line. After handling the first set well, winning 6-2, he lost the second set by the same score. When all of his teammates were done, he was trailing 5-2 in the third set. His opponent Jackson Allen took the final game, clinching the match for Minnesota, 4-3.

The Dawgs are back at it on Saturday, hosting Portland State at 3 p.m. PT. Check Twitter (@UW_MTennis) for updates about the location of the match. If the temperature is 50 degrees or greater, the match will be played outside.

RESULTS
#47 Washington - 3
#33 Minnesota - 4

Doubles (Order of finish: 2, 3)
1) Lam/Sommer (UW) vs. #58 Spec/Corwin (UM) 5-6 DNF
2) Foley/Stewart (UW) def. Kristanovic/Levin (UM) 6-4
3) Davis/Douglas (UW) def. Lobak/Ogilvy (UM) 6-4

Singles (Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 3, 6, 5)
1) Felix Corwin (UM) def. #73 Jake Douglas (UW) 6-0, 6-2
2) Matic Spec (UM) def. #57 Mitch Stewart (UW) 6-0, 7-6(4)
3) #45 Stefan Milicevic (UM) def. Enzo Sommer (UW) 6-4, 7-6(6)
4) Amit Batta (UW) def. Eli Ogilvy (UM) 6-3, 6-4
5) Jackson Allen (UM) def. Piers Foley (UW) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
6) Alexis Alvarez (UW) def. Jesip Kristanovic (UM) 7-5, 7-5