Jaedan Brown rebounds, feeding off energy in win against Kristina Novak JACK TIRSCH For The Daily Jaedan Brown closed out the first set of her singles match against No. 19 Oklahoma State’s Kristina Novak with an emphat- ic ace, adorning her serve with a yell towards the crowd. The junior was dominant in her match, defeating Novak in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-1. Brown tallied another singles win against an oppo- nent from a ranked team while improving her individual record to 3-1 on Saturday. After an agonizing loss in her singles match last weekend amid a Michigan victory over the Cowgirls, Brown came out with a different mindset for the rematch. She looked to sharpen the fundamentals in her game to rebound from the loss. She was promoted to No. 1 singles this weekend in a rematch between the two teams. “I think I went in really loose,” Brown said. “Coming off of a big win against them last week helped me take all the pressure off, so I was just swinging and hitting it really well. The energy was great.” Michigan fed off of the ener- gy from the crowd at the Varsity Tennis Center and maintained the competitive atmosphere as crowd chants rained down over the Wolverines. Brown clearly absorbed the vibrancy through- out her match, generating great momentum in her favor. “When you have your team- mates around you constantly encouraging you, that makes it a lot easier,” Brown said. Brown preserved this live- liness throughout her match with a powerful shot down the line to break Novak and secure a commanding 5-2 lead in the first set. Brown continued her strong level of play into the second set by breaking Novak’s serve yet again, this time with a deep cross-court shot to take a commanding 3-0 lead. “You can’t give up when knowing that (opponents) aren’t going to give you errors,” Brown said. “I felt like my serve was pretty on today. I also mixed it up using my slice a couple of times, com- ing into the net, just to throw them off.” Steamrolling her way to vic- tory, Brown held nearly every serve and broke most of the opposing serving opportuni- ties. Consistency was key for Brown as she only conceded three games to Novak’s effort. Brown continuously moved Novak around the court by utilizing both her backhand and forehand shots, as well as coming up to the net when necessary. Brown was also able to use her teammate Kari Miller’s match against Novak last weekend to her advantage, trying to replicate how her teammate emerged victorious. “I was just trying to take what Kari did,” Brown said. “She had a successful week- end last time against (Novak), so I just tried to take what she said about her and what the coaches said and treat it as a new match.” Jaedan Brown’s effort was essential en route to Michi- gan’s 6-1 win over Oklahoma State, capturing victories in back-to-back meetings against the Cowgirls. WOMEN’S TENNIS ‘A scary sight’: Hunter Dickinson delivers against Ohio State JACK GLANVILLE Daily Sports Editor Up just five points with 13 min- utes left, junior center Hunter Dickinson caught the ball in the high post while turning to face up Ohio State center Felix Okpara — no double team in sight. Sweeping the ball low to his left hand, Dick- inson dribbled left. Bumped once off of Okpara, almost to the low block. Bumped twice off of Okpa- ra, at the rim. Dickinson layed it up and in. Sauntering down the floor, he celebrated with an arm stretched downward and a hand parallel with the hardwood. His message was clear: The 6-foot-11 Okpara was too small. Dickinson notched a signature performance — finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds — against the Buckeyes at Crisler Center on Sunday. That performance was, in part, due to Dickinson’s ability to exploit mismatches in the post. “Hunter recognizes, as well as his teammates, when the big fella had it going on the inside,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “We had to continue to keep feeding him the ball. I’ll never for- get, on a timeout, Terrance Wil- liams was like, ‘Let’s keep going to Hunter.’ And I said, ‘You know what, I agree. We’re going to keep going to Hunter.’ ” Matched up with either Okpa- ra or forward Zed Key, Dickin- son handled both of Ohio State’s defensive options with ease. Okpara proved too skinny, and Dickinson simply went through him. Key proved too short at 6-foot-8, and the towering 7-foot- 1 Dickinson went over him — unleashing a barrage of hook shots that the forward never had a chance of contesting. “(Dickinson) reads the defense,” Howard said. “When he’s not doubled, he’s going to make his move one-on-one. If he gets doubled, he’s going to throw the ball out.” That ability to read the defense made Dickinson’s performance against the Buckeyes so impres- sive. Staying calm under pressure and demonstrating a knack for making the right plays, Dickinson remained poised throughout the contest. That showed as he played all but four minutes yet finished with only one turnover. And the way he facilitated the Wolverines’ offense from the post made that statistic all the more impressive. That ability to facilitate was on display when, with seven min- utes left, freshman guard Dug McDaniel fed Dickinson in the high post. Turning to survey the court, Dickinson found himself in a familiar position. This time, instead of releasing a mid-range jumper or taking his defender off the bounce, he zipped a skip pass to graduate guard Joey Baker in the opposite corner. Baker knocked down the three, giving Michigan a 12-point cushion with the momentum-boosting shot. “There were times late in the second half when (Dickinson) had a chance to go one-on-one, but he still was throwing it out to the perimeter,” Howard said. “That’s just the nature of being an JULIANNE YOON/Daily unselfish player, wanting to make the right play. That just gives a lot of credit to the kind of competitor that Hunter is, but he’s also dialed into team, team, team.” Just two minutes later Dick- inson flashed that unselfishness again, throwing an almost iden- tical pass, this time to sopho- more guard Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin missed the wide-open 3-pointer, but it was the right pass and the right shot — textbook basketball. “When a guy like Hunter plays his best it’s a scary sight,” Bufkin said. “It’s always huge for us when he plays great.” After failing to effectively lead a younger Michigan squad early in the year, Dickinson is turning a corner. Sure, he still averages 18.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, but only recently — against Northwestern and Ohio State — has he put together the perfor- mances that Michigan needs to make a tournament push and flip the script on its lackluster season. At his best, Dickinson is one of college basketball’s elites. One of the Big Ten’s bonafide stars. And Sunday against Ohio State, one scary sight, indeed. Michigan serves revenge to Harvard at home KENDALL MCCASKILL Daily Sports Writer Following the No. 4 Michigan men’s tennis team’s loss in the doubles point against the Harvard men’s tennis team, the Wolverines found themselves in an unfamiliar place. Looking to redeem their 4-3 loss from last season against No. 18 Harvard and its subsequent defeat in doubles play, Michigan was ravenous for the win. But its appetite was only satiated when it clinched a home win over the Crimson. “Especially early in the season, it’s huge for us against a team like Harvard,” fifth-year Patrick Malo- ney said. “We lost 4-3 to them last year, so we kind of came into that match looking for revenge, losing the doubles point even added on to that and made it even tougher. Maloney and senior Ondrej Sty- ler entered the court as an unde- feated doubles pairing hoping to continue their five-set streak. Instead, aces and tough serve- receive from Harvard startled the pair, losing both their match and the team’s double’s point, the lat- ter for the first time all season. “We didn’t play well. At all,” Michigan coach Adam Steinberg said. “It was the worst doubles we’ve played all year and the guys know it.” Based on their last meeting’s performance and without the cushion of doubles point, Michi- gan knew it needed to show improvement given their point deficit. It did just that. By extending their rallies and aggressive singles play, Michigan put itself back into the competi- tion. The Wolverines entered into three-set matches in four out-of-six of their singles. Junior Jacob Bickersteth dropped the first set against Harvard’s Mark Ktiri, but with great determina- tion to avenge his losses against the Crimson, he pushed for a third set. With crafty line shots and continued grit from Bickersteth, he secured the match for the Wol- verines. “Sometimes it’s a hard les- son but it’s one that we needed,” Steinberg said. “I told them that after the doubles, listen ‘you’re 7-0, you’ve won every doubles point, but now you’re going to be challenged, and they did great.’ ” Fifth-year Andrew Fenty simi- larly served up his revenge follow- ing his singles loss in his meeting last year with Harvard. Fenty quelled out his opponent with quickness, winning the match 6-4, 6-1, giving another win to the Wolverines. “It was a character win today,” Steinberg said. “We have to find ways to win when we lose dou- bles point too. They can lean on it just like this, and think hey, we’ve done it before against a really good team.” Despite the adversity Michi- gan faced early in the match it was able to take command of the match, fueled by the team’s grit and determination to take back the win. “Getting dug into that hole early on but it tested us mentally and physically,” Maloney said. “And we’ll look back into this match a couple of months from now and be happy it happened.” As the Wolverines continue their undefeated campaign in the weeks to come, they will need to lead with the same mentality they used to secure revenge over Harvard. MEN’S TENNIS Michigan upsets field to win Big Ten Match Play title Ranked eighth out of nine teams in the field, the Michigan men’s golf team entered the Big Ten Match Play Championship with a slim chance of winning. Playing at the Hammock Beach Ocean Course in Florida, the Wolverines faced a steep uphill climb, with matches against No. 7 Penn State, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Indiana and No. 1 North- western. Led by a clutch performance from sophomore Hunter Thom- son, Michigan stunned the com- petition, knocking off each of the top three seeds to win its first Big Ten Match Play title since 2014. Play began Friday morn- ing against Penn State but was delayed due to weather, result- ing in the match being reduced to nine holes. Following the resump- tion of play, Penn State’s James Allen put the Nittany Lions ahead with a comfortable 3-and-1 win over Michigan junior Jude Kim. The Wolverines fought back, however, erasing the deficit as Thomson and junior Will Ander- son both grinded out late-match comebacks. Thomson won his match while Anderson tied his. A halved point between junior Ben Hoagland and Penn State’s Morgan Lofland left the overall score at 2-2, putting Michigan’s fate in the hands of sophomore Yuqi Liu. He stepped up in a big way, winning a narrow 1-up match that came down to the wire and advancing his team to the next round. After a short turnaround, the Wolverines took on rival Michi- gan State, ranked second in the field. Michigan got off to a hot start behind Thomson, who domi- nated 6-and-4. Andersen added to the momentum as he cruised to victory, 4-and-3. Needing one more point to clinch the win over the Spartans, Kim found himself down three with only seven holes to play. He turned the tide at the right time, winning six holes in a row to claim a point to upset Michigan State 3.5-1.5. “Anytime you play Michigan State, obviously, we get their best and they get our best,” Michigan coach Zach Barlow said. “It was nice to finally come out on top this time. … The guys were fired up for it and honestly we just played really good golf.” Semifinal play against Indiana saw more polar scoring across the board, with no ties. Kim and Liu both lost, but Anderson and Hoagland grabbed crucial wins to keep the Wolverines in conten- tion. With the score sitting at an even 2-2, the outcome of the match fell on Thomson’s shoulders. Although only a sophomore, Thomson is Michigan’s highest- ranked player and led the team in scoring average last year as a freshman. He had his hands full against the Hoosiers, winning two of the last three holes and still needing a huge putt on the last hole to close out his opponent. Reliably, Thomson held his nerve, finding the bottom of the hole and winning 1-up to send his team to the finals. With a Big Ten Match Play title on the line, Northwestern await- ed Michigan on Saturday after- noon. Despite having played three rounds in the last 36 hours, the Wolverines put their heads down and jumped out to a lead behind wins from Liu and Kim, who redeemed their semifinal defeats. Unsurprisingly, the Wildcats didn’t go quietly. Anderson and Hoagland’s matches both came down to the final hole but neither came out on top. Northwestern’s late comeback brought the score to 2-2, once again putting Thom- son in the spotlight as he squared up against the Wildcats’ James Imai. The final match went back and forth. Thomson and Imai traded blows across the front nine, with neither ever leading by more than a hole. The match was all square heading into the turn, and remained unchanged until the 15th hole, when Thomson took the lead with three holes to play. He demonstrated solid compo- sure, staving off Imai on holes 16 and 17 before sinking a must-have putt on 18 to win the champion- ship for the Wolverines. “(Thomson’s) ranking hasn’t quite caught up to who he truly is yet,” Barlow said. “He’s got a lot of big time tournaments, a lot of big time years ahead for Michigan. … For it to come down to that and especially a putt, he’s worked on putting so much lately it’s crazy.” Thomson is currently ranked 309th in college golf. And yet, he won all four of his matches this weekend and propelled his team to victory. His underdog status is mirrored by the Wolverines and their low ranking coming into this weekend. Michigan’s underdog status doesn’t come as a surprise consid- ering its best performance last fall was a third-out-of-13 finish at the Island Resort Invitational in Sep- tember. They played consistently lukewarm golf throughout the fall, leading many to believe the same would remain true in 2023. “It was a total team effort,” Barlow said. “We have worked so hard this offseason. … They got stronger and everything from lift- ing to cardio to their short game, they’ve really put in the work this offseason, and I couldn’t be more proud.” Evidently, the Wolverines have more potential than was thought prior to this weekend. They domi- nated MSU and earned gritty wins over Penn State and North- western to win a title that few people foresaw them claiming. Though the consistency of Michigan’s play remains to be seen, this weekend definitively proves that it has both the fire- power and the mental strength needed to win against heavily- favored opponents. MEN’S GOLF PETER HAGAN For The Daily ANNA FUDER/Daily RILEY NIEBOER/Daily MEN’S BASKETBALL 10 — Wednesday, February 8, 2023 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports