May 24, 2013 - 6:32pm
King defeats Dome en route to the quarterfinals
BY JASON RUBINSTEIN
Just as one may have thought Evan King couldn’t accomplish more in his Michigan career, the senior found a way. Friday morning, King became the first Michigan men’s tennis player to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships since David Kaas in 1992.
King, the tournaments No. 11 seed, accomplished the milestone with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 30 Andre Dome of Cal Poly.
The Big Ten Athlete of the year got off to shaky start, getting broken on his second service game, allowing Dome to earn a 3-1 lead.
But the King remained calm, as he fired back, winning the next five games en route to winning the first set.
Despite giving up the first set, Dome managed to break King again, once again earning a 3-1 set lead. But King used strong returns and consistent play to break back and eventually earn a break of his own. Never looking back, King went on to win the set and the match.
With the win, King put moved into second place on the list of career singles wins, with 116, only 11 behind the frontrunner Dan Goldberg (1989).
King is now slated to play Tulsa’s Japie De Klerk. The Tulsa junior is coming off an impressive three-set win, which could be used to King’s advantage. De Klerk has played two three-set matches already while King has yet to play more than two, leaving him well rested before tomorrow’s match.
The Michigan senior brings some knowledge about his opponent excels at entering Saturday’s matchup. Michigan faced off against Tulsa on March 6, and while King may not have played De Klerk, he certainty got a glimpse of the South African native.
But his opponent won't matter if King keeps doing what he has been doing.
