An upset was in the cards for Mattias Siimar as he entered the fourth game of the first set up 2-1 against Ohio State’s J.J. Wolf. Things looked bright for the Michigan sophomore as he was going toe-to-toe with Wolf through each point. It was not meant to be for Siimar, however, as Wolf pulled away from Siimar’s early lead, winning the match 6-2, 6-0.
Siimar’s loss was a sign of things to come for the No. 16 Michigan men’s tennis team as it lost, 6-1, to No. 1 Ohio State on Sunday. The loss marks the Wolverines’ second consecutive defeat after the 5-2 loss to Penn State on Friday.
The loss started with tough competition from the Buckeyes on the doubles courts. The matchups saw a rather slow start for freshman Patrick Maloney and junior Connor Johnston at No. 3 doubles, going down 3-0 early. Despite a resilient effort from the duo to get back into the match, Ohio State’s John McNally and Hunter Tubert pulled away with a 6-3 win. Freshman Andrew Fenty and senior Myles Schalet saw a similar fate as they attempted to claw back from their early 2-0 deficit but fell short as Ohio State clinched the doubles point.
Schalet showed resilience in his match at No. 2 singles. After a dominant first set from his opponent, Schalet went 6-1 down. The senior came back strong in the second set, however, winning 6-4 and taking the match to a tiebreaker. But the Buckeyes’ John McNally came away with the win in the tiebreaker.
In a day full of defeat for Michigan, Andrew Fenty was a positive for the Wolverines in his showing at No. 3 singles. Fenty was strong in the first set, winning 6-3, and eventually won the tiebreaker after losing the second set.
“I just stuck to my game plan,” Fenty said. “My game plan was to make him play and I knew I could come back.”
Fenty showed energy throughout the match and kept his enthusiasm up despite going down in the second set.
“He loves college tennis so much and it’s contagious,” said Michigan coach Adam Steinberg. “He’s a great player and these matches bring out the best of him, he loves the environment.”
The remaining three courts saw Connor Johnston, Gabe Tishman, and Patrick Maloney fall in their matches at No. 4, 5, and 6 singles, respectively.
“We have to work harder,” Steinberg said. “There’s a lot of things that have to get better and the guys have to believe in themselves.”