SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- In a back-and-forth match that spanned nearly four hours, the No. 21-ranked University of Michigan men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision at Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 16) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

 

For the second year in a row, the Fighting Irish clinched the dual in the final match on the court, as Billy Pecor defeated sophomore Michael Zhu (Princeton, N.J./Keystone National), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4, at the No. 4 singles position.

 

Michigan picked up singles wins from senior Evan King (Chicago, Ill./Kaplan) and junior Barrett Franks (Christchurch, New Zealand/Shirley Boys') at the No. 1 and No. 6 spots, respectively. King, listed at No. 16 in the latest ITA National Singles Rankings, extended his winning streak to 10 matches with his 6-2, 6-7 (10), 6-2 victory over 71st-ranked Andrews. King is 7-0 in dual competition and is 13-3 overall this season.

 

Franks notched his fifth dual win of the season with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision over Ryan Bandy. After letting a first-set lead slip away, Franks won 12 of the next 15 games to secure the victory.

 

U-M posted the first team point of the match, earning the doubles point with narrow wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. After redshirt sophomore Justin Rossi (Novi, Mich./Laurel Springs Prep) and sophomore Vlad Stefan (Bucharest, Romania) lost the first match off the court at No. 2, U-M's top tandem of King and junior Shaun Bernstein (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK) rallied to knock off Andrews and Spencer Talmadge in a tiebreaker. Trailing 6-3, King and Bernstein won four of the next five games, and the match went to a tiebreak at 7-7, with the Maize and Blue winning the breaker, 7-3.

 

Moments later, the Wolverine tandem of Zhu and sophomore Alex Petrone (Staten Island, N.Y./Laurel Springs Prep) also won in in a tiebreaker, pulling out a 8-7 (7) decision over Bandy and Matt Dooley at the No. 3 position to clinch the doubles point in Michigan's favor.

 

The Wolverines take a break from dual-match play next week before returning home to the Varsity Tennis Center for a 7 p.m. matchup against 17th-ranked Tulsa on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

 

Following are match-by-match results:

 

Singles

No. 1 -- No. 16 Evan King (U-M) d. No. 71 Greg Andrews (Notre Dame), 6-2, 6-7 (10), 6-2

No. 2 -- Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame) d. Alex Petrone (U-M), 6-4, 1-6, 6-2

No. 3 -- Blas Moros (Notre Dame) d. No. 50 Vlad Stefan (U-M), 6-3, 6-1

No. 4 -- Billy Pecor (Notre Dame) d. Michael Zhu (U-M), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4

No. 5 -- Wyatt McCoy (Notre Dame) d. Shaun Bernstein (U-M), 6-2, 7-6 (5)

No. 6 -- Barrett Franks (U-M) d. Ryan Bandy (Notre Dame), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

 

Doubles

No. 1 -- Evan King/Shaun Bernstein (U-M) d. Greg Andrews/Spencer Talmadge (Notre Dame), 8-7 (3)

No. 2 -- Billy Pecor/Alex Lawson (Notre Dame) d. Vlad Stefan/Justin Rossi (U-M), 8-5

No. 3 -- Alex Petrone/Michael Zhu (U-M) d. Ryan Bandy/Matt Dooley (Notre Dame), 8-7 (7)

 

Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 3-6-5-2-1-4