The Michigan men’s tennis team traveled south this weekend for its first bit of fall action at the Cliffs NCAA Tennis Classic — a non-scoring event — and the players returned to Ann Arbor with high hopes for the upcoming season.

Senior Jason Jung, the 25th-ranked ITA player in the nation, went 4-0 over the three-day tournament and walked away with the Most Outstanding Player honors. The team captain, who earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Individual Championships last season, is expected to be a bright spot on a youthful Wolverine squad.

“He picked up right where he left off last year,” Michigan coach Bruce Berque said through the athletic department. “He continued to work on his game. Tennis is one of those sports where you need to keep competing to get better. We wanted to use this event as an opportunity for him to get some matches under his belt before All-Americans.”

Although the tournament did not feature team scoring (it was, for all intents and purposes, a tune-up tournament), Michigan had many important individual victories.

All four Wolverine freshmen notched their first wins in a maize and blue uniform, as Shaun Bernstein (3-1), Alex Buzzi (2-2), Justin Rossi (2-2) and Barrett Franks (2-2) all came home with victories. The rookies will definitely play a factor this season, as they make up almost half of the team's roster.

Last season, Michigan finished up with a 14-11 record, good for third place in the Big Ten and an NCAA-tournament berth for the fifth straight year. Berque also led his team to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second time in as many years, and he’s confident the team can return there this spring.

"We were pleased," Berque said. "Given we were only practicing for about a week, the guys looked fairly sharp. We used it to learn what we need to get after this week in practice and really for the rest of the semester. It's much more helpful to watch them in matches so we can get a better picture, but I thought we played at a very high level."

In two weeks, the Wolverines will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the ITA All-American Main Draw, where sophomore Evan King will compete for the first time this fall. The team will likely get a big boost from his play, as King is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He finished up last season with a 21-13 record in singles play.