2B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, April 15, 1996
TENNIS
Wolverines stay in 1st place in Big
Ten by sweeping Indiana, Ohio State
By Richard Shin and 9-10 overall.
Daily Sports Writer The doubles point was won by the first two
In April, the Michigan men's tennis team has doubles positions, as Wolverines Pusztai and We're in control of oup
been like a rain shower to a May flower- perfect. Costanzo recorded a 8-4 victory over Jason
The Wolverines have gone 5-0 this month, grab- Homorody and Scott Wiles. Ohio State's Doug own destiny, provided we
bing wins against Indiana on Saturday and Ohio Bloom and Marc Wurtzman dropped a decisive 8-
State yesterday. 3 match to Michigan's tandem of Swan and Prentice. win the match against
With the pair of victories, Michigan remained in Buckeyes Vo Chu and Ben Basil were victorious
first place in the Big Ten at 8-1. The Wolverines are at third doubles, handing Raiton and Farah their lowa
13-7 overall. second consecutive loss, 8-6. - Brian Eisner
Saturday, Michigan bounced the Hoosiers, 6-1, "Ohio State is a very dangerous team," Eisner Michigan men's tennis coach
in Bloomington, winning five of six singles matches said. "They have very good personnel throughout
and the doubles point. Winning at singles for the the entire lineup. They are the kind of team that can
Wolverines were first singles Peter Pusztai, No. 2 beat anybody on a given day. "Most of the matches were very decisive wins f
Arvid Swan, No. 4 Geoff Prentice, No. 5 William "We played a good match outside today." us," Eisner said. "It was a good win and an impoW
Farah and Jake Raiton at sixth singles. Suffering his second defeat in three matches was tant win for us outside."
"We played a good solid match," Eisner said. Michigan No. I singles Pusztai, who lost a hard The race for first place in the Big Ten tightens as
"We came away with a good win on the road for fought 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), match to Buckeye Doug Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern are close
us." Bloom. behind Michigan with two losses each coming into
Michigan's top two doubles teams continued Pusztai, who fell to 33-12 on the season, led the the weekend. Illinois and Northwestern each have
their torrid play, both recording 8-6 victories. The second set 4-0, and held several match points in the two matches remaining in the Big Ten, while Mim-
two tandems have also gone undefeated in April. third set before succumbing in the third set nesota faced Penn State over the weekend in the
The only matches the Hoosiers won were at No. tiebreaker. Gophers' last conference match. A Wolverine vic-
3 singles and third doubles. "Pusztai was ahead the whole match," Eisner tory against Iowa on April 20 would simplify things.
Indiana's Derek Pope defeated Michigan's David said. "He had a couple of match points in the third "We're in control of our own destiny, provide
Paradzik, 6-3, 7-6. set and did everything but win the match, unfortu- we win the match against Iowa," Eisner said. "We
And at third doubles, Mike Filipek and Kevin nately." will have one loss, and we will go in with the No.
Gable of Indiana defeated the Wolverine tandem of Fortunately for the Wolverines, Pusztai's team- I seed in the Big Ten tournament."
Jake Raiton and William Farah, 8-6. mates had better luck, as Costanzo and Swan re- Even though Michigan has played well the past
Against Ohio State, Michigan captured four corded two-set victories at No. 2 and No. 3. month, Eisner is not making any predictions about
singles matches and won the doubles point to hand At No. 4 singles, Paradzik rebounded from a loss the team's prospects at the NCAA tournament in
the Buckeyes a 5-2 defeat outdoors in Columbus Saturday to defeat Wurtzman 6-1, 6-3. late May.
yesterday. It was the first match outdoors for Michi- Rounding out the singles victories for the Wol- "We've got too many other things to worry about
gan in April. verines was Farah at No. 6 singles. Farah lost the now before (nationals)," Eisner said. "So that's not
The loss was the fifth for Ohio State in the first set, 6-4, but came back to defeat Chu in the something we want to talk about or think about at
conference. The Buckeyes are 3-5 in the Big Ten final two sets, 6-2, 6-4. this stage."
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
Michigan's Jake Raiton dropped a pair of doubles matches over the weekend.
Michigan finds itselfin familiar
position after weekend sweep
By Richard Shin
Daily Sports Writer
Ifthe Michigan men'stennisteam feels
like it has been in this position before, it is
for good reason.
Oneyearagoto-
day, the Wolver-
ines defeated Ohio
State and con-
trolled their own
destiny in the race
for the Big Ten
title.
Fast forward to
1996.
Teebso
Notebook
secutive wins on the road after a success-
ful three-match homestand. Yesterday,
Michigan defeated Ohio State, 5-2, in an
important Big Ten matchup to stay atop
the conference. Just like last year's team,
the Wolverines control their own destiny
as they head into the final match.
That's where Michigan hopes the simi-
larities end. Last year, in the tournament,
Minnesota upset the top-seeded Wolver-
ines in the finals.
A victory against Iowa on April20 will
lock up the top seed for Michigan in the
Big Ten championships on April 25-28.
STREAKING WOLVERINES: Michigan's
top two doubles teams are worthy of the
The Wolverines are coming off con-
GoIGR&TuLA~iONS
$raE4Ite.I
title, "en feugo." The Wolverines' top
team ofPeter Pusztai andJohn Costanzo
have been "on fire" in April, winning five
consecutive matches. The last defeat that
the No. 24 team suffered came at the
hands of Northwestern on March 30.
Pusztai and Costanzo have improvedtheir
record to 17-8 with the six-match streak.
The Wolverines' No.2 tandem ofArvid
Swan and Geoff Prentice has been
equally unbeatable. Thepair has also won
six in a row, most recently, an 8-4 win
over Ohio State yesterday. The duo has
the best doubles record on the team at 20-
6. Together, the terrific twosomes have
secured the doubles point in the past six
matches, forcing Michigan's opponents
to rely on singles victories.
BROKEN RECORD: Michigan coach
Brian Eisner recorded his 400th career
victory as coach of the Wolverines on
March 20. Eisner has coached Michigan
teams to 18 Big Ten titles in his 27-year
career, but has been shut out in the 1990s.
He has been named coach of the year in
the Big Ten four times, including last
season. Overall, Eisner is 406-171 as
Michigan coach and 482-201-1 in 33
years.
BETTER WITH AGE: Michigan's Pusztai
has won a career-high 33 matches this
season at No. 1 singles. At the first posi-
tion, Pusztai won 14 consecutive Big Ten
matches before falling to Michigan State's
Alberto Brause.
He carries the No. 22 ranking in the
nation at singles.
JOSH BIGGS/
Michigan's John Costanzo beat Ohio State's Jason Homorody yesterday, 6-4, 6-2 In a Big Ten dual match in Columbus.
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