BY BRIAN STEERE
Daily Sports Writer
Published March 20, 2002
It wasn't pretty, but the win still counts.
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The Michigan men's tennis team (1-3 Big Ten, 8-4 overall) overcame a lethargic start in doubles last night to defeat Bowling Green 6-1 at the Varsity Tennis Center.
"We weren't very good in the doubles," coach Mark Mees said. "Greg (Novak) and Anthony (Jackson) played real well at No. 3, but we just did not play well at No. 1 and 2. We were lucky to get the point."
After Jackson and Novak's 8-2 victory, Henry Beam and Matt Lockin needed an 11-9 tiebreaker win at the No. 2 spot just to secure the point.
In the No. 1 match, Chris Rolf and Chris Shaya suffered an early service break due to three double faults by Rolf, and they never bounced back, as Vitek Wild and Milos Jirout emerged with an 8-6 victory.
Michigan rebounded in its singles play though, posting five straight-set victories.
With Ben Cox out of the lineup at No. 2 with mononucleosis, Mees had to move everyone up a spot, allowing freshman Josef Fischer to see action for just the second time this year.
Fischer overcame an early break at the No. 6 position to earn his first collegiate victory 6-4, 6-2.
"It was good to get my first win," Fischer said. "I felt a little more comfortable this time around. I thought that as long as I played solid all the way through I would win in straight sets."
Competing in his first match since upending 16th-ranked Danny Westerman of Wisconsin two weeks ago, Beam overpowered Wild 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot to improve his record to 9-3 on the season. Lockin and David Anving ended Bowling Green's hope of victory with convincing wins at the No. 3 and 5 positions, respectively.
The Falcons' lone triumph came at the No. 4 spot, in which Joel Carey rallied to beat Novak 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Despite Michigan's rocky performance against Bowling Green, a team that it drilled last year without dropping a set, Shaya revealed it's not always easy playing the role of Goliath.
"It's a no-win situation," he said. "You're expected to beat them 7-0, and when you don't, it's like -'What happened?'"
