Minnesota locked up a first-round bye for next weekend's Big Ten men's tennis tournament as the Gophers downed Iowa 5-2 in the final regular season match on Sunday in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Hawkeyes swept all three doubles matches and won the opening singles match for a 2-0 lead, but 35th-ranked Minnesota bounced back by winning the five remaining singles matches to improve to 13-9 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten. Iowa dropped to 12-9 overall and 4-6 in conference play.
The Gophers will be the fifth seed for the tournament and meet fourth-seeded Wisconsin in Bloomington, Ind. on Friday at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern time) in the quarterfinals.
After Iowa took the lead in doubles, Will Vasos gave the Hawkeyes a 2-0 cushion with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Rok Bonin at No. 3 singles. The Gophers evened the match with wins from Tobias Wernet over Nikita Zotov 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 and Sebastian Gallego over Marc Bruche 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1.
Dino Bilankov gave Minnesota a 3-2 advantage with his 6-4, 7-5 win over Reinoud Haal before the final two matches each went into a third set. Brendan Ruddock clinched the win by defeated Austen Kauss 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6 and Phillip Arndt tacked on a win over Tommy McGeorge by a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 count at No. 5.
#35 Minnesota 5, #59 Iowa 2
Singles
1. #64 Sebastian Gallego (MINN) def. Marc Bruche (IOWA) 6-2, 6-4
2. #112 Tobias Wernet (MINN) def. Nikita Zotov (IOWA) 6-4, 6-2
3. Will Vasos (IOWA) def. Rok Bonin (MINN) 6-3, 6-2
4. Dino Bilankov (MINN) def. Reinoud Haal (IOWA) 6-4, 7-5
5. Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Tommy McGeorge (IOWA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Brendan Ruddock (MINN) def. Austen Kauss (IOWA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
1. Marc Bruche/Nikita Zotov (IOWA) def. #50 Phillip Arndt/Sebastian Gallego (MINN) 8-7
2. Will Vasos/Tommy McGeorge (IOWA) def. Dino Bilankov/Julian Dehn (MINN) 8-4
3. Austen Kauss/Reinoud Haal (IOWA) def. Rok Bonin/Tobias Wernet (MINN) 8-4
Match Notes:
Minnesota 13-9, 6-4; National ranking #35
Iowa 12-9, 4-6; National ranking #59
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,2,1,4,6,5)
