Big 10 Tennis

[Will Wilson]

Not very impressive from the Big 10. Leandro Toledo from Minnesota had a nice tournament, nearly knocking off Giron in the second round. Other than that, not much.

I see Wisconsin got a verbal commitment from Elliot Sprecher. He is a very good recruit so that has to be good news for their program which hasn't been great lately.

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by Will Wilson

Not very impressive from the Big 10. Leandro Toledo from Minnesota had a nice tournament, nearly knocking off Giron in the second round. Other than that, not much.

I see Wisconsin got a verbal commitment from Elliot Sprecher. He is a very good recruit so that has to be good news for their program which hasn't been great lately.

Yeah, pretty nonexistent. King's slumping, Kobelt seemed like a weak No. 2 seed, and no one else really stepped up. Disappointing tourney for the Big Ten.

[rafafan20]

Originally Posted by Will Wilson

Not very impressive from the Big 10. Leandro Toledo from Minnesota had a nice tournament, nearly knocking off Giron in the second round. Other than that, not much.

I see Wisconsin got a verbal commitment from Elliot Sprecher. He is a very good recruit so that has to be good news for their program which hasn't been great lately.

Wisconsin was awesome 5-7 years ago

[jaggy]

Living in a Big 10 town the rumors are flying fast and furious about further expansion, Virginia ans Ga tech get a lot of mention, that would shake it up a bit.

[rafafan20]

Sprecher confirmed... should be huge!

[Will Wilson]

Minnesota signed a recruit next year with at ranking of 1500 in the world. I know other Big 10 players have rankings as well. Does anyone know what the rankings of other Big 10 players are?

[jaggy]

Originally Posted by Will Wilson

Minnesota signed a recruit next year with at ranking of 1500 in the world. I know other Big 10 players have rankings as well. Does anyone know what the rankings of other Big 10 players are?

Indiana has Isade Juneau at #1148, Sam Monette at 1322 and Josh MacTaggart at 1579

[kme5150]

Acording to today's release Junior Blaz Rola returns to the Buckeye lineup this spring after not competing during the fall.

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/spo...011513aaa.html

This week Blaz is in Florida at the Futures and next week he is in Hawaii for the Challenger.

[TopDawg]

Originally Posted by kme5150

Acording to today's release Junior Blaz Rola returns to the Buckeye lineup this spring after not competing during the fall.

This week Blaz is in Florida at the Futures and next week he is in Hawaii for the Challenger.

Ohio State must have set their schedule up with all those Futures/Challengers so he could go play on the university's dime. Pretty unheard of to have the "Team" playing 3 futures and 1 challenger in the middle of the dual season. I'd say it is pretty safe bet that Blaz won't be playing in tomorrow's opener against Cupcake A and B.

[SStrikerR]

So how are Penn State's players, level-wise, compared to the rest of the conference?

[jaggy]

Indiana loses 5-2 to Kuntucky, generally a fair score although IU blew the doubles. I was disappointed in Jomby on a fast indoor court, I thought he would be way better than what I saw today.

[jaggy]

Time to bump this, Indiana starting to win a few although we are very top heavy and the top will not beat the best in the Big 10, 12, 14 whatever. Sam Monette has so much promise, best hope for a top 20 player in the 12 years Ive been watching here if he keeps developing.

[NoChance]

Penn State may win a few matches in the conference--can't fault either the effort or the coaching, but there are too many teams ahead of them. Having a substandard, four-court indoor facility hurts recruiting, for sure. Hard to recruit upper-level players with that facility. Plus, the university recently nixed plans for a new indoor building. So, it is what it is.

[Clemson_tennis]

Went to East Lansing this weekend. Michigan State has a very nice indoor facility. 8 courts, 4 on either side with easy access to one side to the other. Very good viewing as there is no net that inhibits view. Fans are very close to the action. There is a nice lobby area with a good selection of concessions. Also scorecards that have the players names printed on them.

Based on the facility, MSU is somewhat underachieving as far as results the last few years. I think they need to expand their recruiting base a bit. Most of their players are from Michigan which is nice but Michigan is not a strong enough tennis state to survive just on that.

[Clemson_tennis]

Badgers upset Minnesota in the Big Ten opener yesterday!


WISCONSIN 4 MINNESOTA 3

DOUBLES
1) Rok Bonin/Mathieu Froment (MINN) def. Billy Bertha/Oskar Wikberg (WIS): 8-6
2) Alexander Kokorev/Petr Satral (WIS) def. Jack Hamburg/Brendan Ruddock (MINN): 8-2
3) Eric Frueh/Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Jakhongir Jalalov/Alexander Kostanov (WIS): 8-6

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES
1) Rok Bonin (MINN) def. Oskar Wikberg (WIS): 6-2, 6-1
2) Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Billy Bertha (WIS): 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
3) Petr Satral (WIS) def. Mathieu Froment (MINN): 6-4, 6-2
4) Alexander Kostanov (WIS) def. Jack Hamburg (MINN): 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
5) Jakhongir Jalalov (WIS) def. Brendan Ruddock (MINN): 6-4, 6-4
6) Alexander Kokorev (WIS) def. Ruben Weber (MINN): 6-4, 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 3

[robow7]

the 17th ranked flying Illini beat Iowa 7-0 last nite and tonight they knocked off 20th ranked Northwestern 5-2. Not bad for a team of all freshman and sophomores with only one senior in the mix. Watch out in the next year or two.

[ClarkC]

What happened to Bruno Abdelnour at Illinois? I have not seen him in the lineup lately.

[robow7]

Originally Posted by ClarkC

What happened to Bruno Abdelnour at Illinois? I have not seen him in the lineup lately.

excellent question, he was at the match tonight dressed like he may have been hitting but was not suited up to play?

[Will Wilson]

Originally Posted by Clemson_tennis

Badgers upset Minnesota in the Big Ten opener yesterday!


WISCONSIN 4 MINNESOTA 3

DOUBLES
1) Rok Bonin/Mathieu Froment (MINN) def. Billy Bertha/Oskar Wikberg (WIS): 8-6
2) Alexander Kokorev/Petr Satral (WIS) def. Jack Hamburg/Brendan Ruddock (MINN): 8-2
3) Eric Frueh/Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Jakhongir Jalalov/Alexander Kostanov (WIS): 8-6

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES
1) Rok Bonin (MINN) def. Oskar Wikberg (WIS): 6-2, 6-1
2) Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Billy Bertha (WIS): 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
3) Petr Satral (WIS) def. Mathieu Froment (MINN): 6-4, 6-2
4) Alexander Kostanov (WIS) def. Jack Hamburg (MINN): 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
5) Jakhongir Jalalov (WIS) def. Brendan Ruddock (MINN): 6-4, 6-4
6) Alexander Kokorev (WIS) def. Ruben Weber (MINN): 6-4, 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 3

Minnesota drops this one to pretty much a not good team; loses 4-3 to Drake who is a pretty good team and then they absolutely trounce 14th ranked Washington 6-1. Every match was straight sets for the Gophers except for the loss at #1 which was 7-5 in the third complete with typical college hook during match game.

Some of their guys are starting to play better so we'll see if this is the real Minnesota team. They have potential, hope they didn't dig themselves too big of a hole.

[jaggy]

Huge win for Kevin Anderson today