The 29th-ranked University of Minnesota men's tennis team dropped its second consecutive Big Ten match today, falling 5-2 to 25th-ranked Michigan at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. The Golden Gophers (12-5, 2-2 Big Ten) went 0-3 in doubles play at 2-4 in singles action to fall to the Wolverines (13-4, 4-1) for the first time since 1999.

The Maize and Blue opened the dual by winning a hotly-contested doubles point. After an 8-5 Michigan win at No. 3, 35th-ranked Ryan Heller and Andrew Mazlin edged Minnesota's Mikey Kantar and Raoul Schwark, 9-8 (2) at No. 2. The Maize and Blue duo never trailed, but Kantar and Schwark battled to tie the match at 8-8 before Heller and Mazlin prevailed 7-2 in the tiebreaker. Michigan completed the sweep at No. 1 with a comeback 9-8 (4) win by third-ranked Brian Hung and Matko Maravic over Nich Edlefsen and Sion Wilkins. The Golden Gopher duo led 7-5, but the Wolverines stormed back to knot the match at 7-7 and later force a tiebreaker where Hung and Maravic cruised to a 7-4 win.

In singles play, Minnesota quickly knotted the dual at 1-1 with 93rd-ranked Schwark's 6-1, 6-1 rout of 55th-ranked Maravic at No. 1. With the win, Schwark improved to 11-5 this spring after posting his eighth victory in his last nines matches. Michigan re-gained the lead at 2-1 with Heller's 6-4, 7-5 win over Kantar at No. 3. The Maroon and Gold drew even again with the Wolverines at No. 5 with Brian Lipinski's 7-5, 6-2 victory over Steve Peretz. With his victory, Lipinski improved to 6-2 in dual matches this season.

From there, Michigan went 3-0 with wins at Nos. 2, 6 and 4. After 61st-ranked Hung's win over Osorio at No. 2, the Wolverines prevailed in a pair of three-set matches. At No. 6, Sroczynski out-lasted Dino Bilankov, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, while Mazlin edged Edlefsen at No. 4, 6-4, 6-7 (6), (10-7) at No. 4.

The Golden Gophers continue five-match homestand tomorrow with a dual against 40th-ranked Penn State at 10:30 a.m.

#29 Minnesota vs. #25 Michigan
March 31, 2007
Baseline Tennis Center
Minneapolis, Minn.

Singles
1. #93 Raoul Schwark (MINN) def. #55 Matko Maravic (MICH), 6-1, 6-1
2. #61 Brian Hung (MICH) def. Andres Osorio (MINN), 7-5, 6-4
3. Ryan Heller (MICH) def. Mikey Kantar (MINN), 6-4, 7-5
4. Andrew Mazlin (MICH) def. Nich Edlefsen (MINN), 6-4, 6-7 (6), (10-7)
5. Brian Lipinski (MINN) def. Steve Peretz (MICH), 7-5, 6-2
6. Mike Sroczynski (MICH) def. Dino Bilankov (MINN), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 1,3,5,2,6,4

Doubles
1. #3 Hung/Maravic (MICH) def. Edlefsen/Sion Wilkins (MINN), 9-8 (4)
2. #35 Heller/Mazlin (MICH) def. Kantar/Schwark (MINN), 9-8 (2)
3. George Navas/Sroczynski (MICH) def. Osorio/Chi Pham (MINN), 8-5
Order of finish: 3,2,1

#25 Michigan def. #29 Minnesota, 5-2