Gophers Share Big 10 Title

MINNEAPOLIS (gophersports.com)  -- The Minnesota men's tennis team captured a share of its first Big Ten regular-season title in 20 years Sunday afternoon, defeating No. 27 Northwestern, 4-3, at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Senior Day victory improved the Gophers' record to 19-6 and upped their conference ledger to 10-1, tying them with third-ranked Illinois and No. 11 Ohio State atop the league standings. 

The win also completed a perfect home season for the Maroon and Gold--Minnesota went 12-0 at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Gophers last won a Big Ten championship in 1995 when they won their fourth title in a row. They now have nine total regular-season championships. 

For the 21st time in 25 matches this season, Minnesota opened the match by winning the doubles point. Eric Frueh and Matic Spec kicked off the contest with an 8-2 win at No. 3 and Leandro Toledo and Felix Corwin downed Fedor Baev and Strong Kirchheimer at No. 2 to make it 2-0. 

Toledo and Corwin are now 20-2 together with a 17-1 record in dual-match play. Individually, Toledo is now 19-1 in spring doubles matches. 

NU evened the score with a win at No. 1 singles, but Jack Hamburg finished off Baev at No. 5 to put the Gophers back in front. No. 94-ranked Spec then won his 12th match in a row to give Minnesota the point at the second singles spot to make it 3-1. 

Spec now leads the team with 29 singles wins in 2014-15 and is 20-2 in dual-match competition. 

The Wildcats battled back to re-tie the score at three with wins at the third and sixth positions, but Corwin came through at No. 4. After dropping a 6-4 decision to Logan Staggs his first set, Corwin played hero for Minnesota by rallying to win his second set, 7-5, and outlasting Staggs in a third-set tiebreaker. 

Minnesota has now won 19 matches on the season, matching its highest win total since 2003. The team also won 19 matches in 2009 and 2011. 

The Gophers will pick up play next week at the Big Ten Tournament at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill. As the third seed, they earned a first-round bye and will play either No. 6-seeded Penn State or No. 11-seeded Michigan Friday at 2 p.m. CT in the quarterfinal round.

No. 33 Minnesota 4, No. 27 Northwestern 3
Minneapolis, Minn. (Baseline Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. No. 66 Sam Shropshire (NU) def. No. 21 Leandro Toledo (MINN) 6-1, 7-5
2. No. 94 Matic Spec (MINN) def. Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Konrad Zieba (NU) def. Ruben Weber (MINN) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Felix Corwin (MINN) def. Logan Staggs (NU) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5)
5. Jack Hamburg (MINN) def. Fedor Baev (NU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
6. Alp Horoz (NU) def. Mathieu Froment (MINN) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. No. 47 Jack Hamburg/Mathieu Froment (MINN) vs. No. 53 Alex Pasareanu/Sam Shropshire (NU) 4-7, unfinished
2. Felix Corwin/Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Fedor Baev/Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 8-5
3. Eric Frueh/Matic Spec (MINN) def. Alp Horoz/Mihir Kumar (NU) 8-2

Match Notes
Northwestern 19-8 (8-3 Big Ten)
Minnesota 19-6 (10-1 Big Ten)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,5,2,3,6,4)