Sunday, 04/22/2012

The Big Ten Conference announced the seedings and pairings for the 2012 Men’s Tennis Tournament on Sunday, with conference champion Ohio State taking the No. 1 seed. The top-seeded Buckeyes closed the regular season with an 11-0 record in Big Ten play and 29-2 overall mark. Ohio State receives a bye into the quarterfinals.

Michigan finished the regular season 9-2 in conference matches and 16-6 overall en route to the No. 2 seed. Illinois (14-7 overall, 8-3 Big Ten) follows at No. 3 after earning the head-to-head tiebreaker over fourth-seeded Minnesota (13-6, 8-3). The top four seeds in the tournament receive first-round byes and begin play in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Indiana (21-8, 7-4) earns the fifth seed, owing the head-to-head tiebreaker over Northwestern. The Hoosiers will take on No.12 Iowa (1-21, 0-11) in the first round, with the winner moving on to face the Golden Gophers. The sixth-seeded Wildcats (14-9, 7-4) will take on No. 11 Penn State (11-13, 1-10), with the winner advancing to face the Fighting Illini in the quarterfinals. Michigan State (17-10, 6-5) claims the seventh-seed and will take on 10th-seeded Purdue (10-15, 2-9), with the Wolverines awaiting in the second round, while the winner of No. 8 Wisconsin (12-11, 4-7) and No. 9 Nebraska (10-14, 3-8) will face the top-seeded Buckeyes.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on Thursday, with first-round matches taking place at 9:30 a.m. CT at Northwestern’s Vandy Christie Tennis Center. Friday’s quarterfinal matches begin at 9:30 a.m., while Saturday will showcase the tournament semifinals starting at 9:30 a.m. Sunday’s championship match is scheduled for Noon.

BTN will air the championship match on Thursday, May 10, at 6 p.m. ET.

###