Fenty, Styler, Young Advance at NCAA Singles Championships

Fenty, Styler, Young Advance at NCAA Singles Championships

Website: Lake Nona, Fla. (USTA National Campus)
Event: Points: NCAA Singles Championship (Day 1/6)
Score: No team points
Next UM event: Tuesday, May 23 — NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships (Lake Nona, Fla.), TBD

LAKE NONA, Fla. —Andrew Fenty, Ondrej Styler and Gavin Young The University of Michigan men’s tennis team each earned an opening-round victory at the 2023 NCAA Singles Championships on Monday (May 22) at the USTA National Campus.

It is the first time since 1980 that a Michigan team has advanced three players to the second round of NCAA singles play.

Young — originally a singles alternate but replacing South Carolina’s Toby Samuel — was the Wolverines’ first match of the day as he faced a familiar foe in Illinois’ Karlis Ozolins. Young played three different Illini this season (Mathias Debru, Hunter Heck and Olivier Okonkwo), winning all three, but facing Illinois’ No. 1 player for the first time. Young downed Ozolins in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, to claim his first NCAA singles title. The first set was a run that saw Ozolins take a 3-0 lead before Young caught him 3-3, though Ozolins finished 3-0. In the second set, Young jumped out to a 3-0 lead and broke Ozolins a second time to take the set 6-2. Down 5-0 in the third set, Young gave up just one game to win 6-1. He will face Colombian Michael Zheng in the round of 32.

Fenty made it 2-2 for the Wolverines with a three-set win over Louisville’s Etienne Donnet. In a 5-5 tie, Donnet was able to win two in a row and take the first set 7-5. The second set was suspended at 4-3, the advantage with Fenty due to weather and moved indoors. With the situation tied at 5-5, Fenty held serve and broke Donnet for 7-5 seconds. Third was Fenty as he had two break points in a 6-1 win.

In the anticipated rematch, Styler once again defeated USC’s Stefan Dostanic 7-6 (12-10), 6-2. Styler won the match over Dostanic in the NCAA Super Regional, sending the Wolverines to the quarterfinals. It was another battle in the first set as the two played to a 12-10 tiebreak, Styler’s second-longest tiebreak of the season. Styler used the momentum towards a double break in the second set to go up 5-1 and finished with a famous Styler service ace for a 6-2 win. It extended Styler’s singles winning streak to 17 straight as he improved to 28-4 on the season.

Patrick Maloney fell with a 6-3 win to Hawaii’s Andre Ilagan in the final match of the day to end his Michigan career. The fifth-year senior went 14-5 this season with a 12-game hitting streak and finished his varsity career 73-33.

The second round of singles continues tomorrow (Tuesday, May 23), along with the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championship. It’s double duty for Fenty and Young as the ranked duo start the game.

NCAA Singles Championship First Round

No. 63 Gavin Young (UM) d. No. 23 Karlis Ozolins (Illinois) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 20 Andrew Fenty (UM) d. No. 45 Etienne Donnet (Louisville) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
No. 8 Ondrej Styler (UM) d. No. 25 Stefan Dostanic (USC) 7-6 (12-10), 6-2
When. 65 Andrew Ilagan (Hawaii) d. When. 44 Patrick Maloney (UM) 6-3, 6-3