No. 7 Michigan men's tennis falls to No. 2 TCU in NCAA quarterfinals

The Michigan men’s tennis team won the doubles point and took the early 1-0 lead, but then saw its national-title hopes unravel in singles.

The seventh-seeded Wolverines, lost, 4-1, to No. 2 TCU on Friday in a quarterfinal match that was delayed from Thursday night because of rain at the USTA National Center in Lake Nona, Fla. The Wolverines lost the first sets in five of six singles matches, with three of those losses coming in tiebreakers.

In doubles, Ondrej Styler and Jacob Bickersteth won, 6-2, and Patrick Maloney and Nino Ehrenschneider won a tiebreaker, 7-6, to lead the Wolverines to a 1-0 advantage heading into singles. Michigan needed to win three of the six singles court to win the match and advance to the semifinals.

It didn't happen.

Styler, the Big Ten Player of the Year, who entered the quarterfinals on a 15-match win streak, was the only Michigan player to take his first set.

TCU tied the match, 1-1, with Ehrenschneider, who dropped his first set in a tiebreaker, losing in straight sets on Court 4. Maloney then lost on Court 2, Andrew Fenty on Court 3, and Gavin Young lost on Court 5 to give the Horned Frogs the match victory.

This was the second straight Elite 8 appearance for Michigan, which finished the season at 27-5.

Styler, Fenty and Maloney will each compete at the NCAA Singles Championships which begin Monday, while Fenty and Young will compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship.

SinglesNo. 1 – No. 8 Ondrej Styler (U-M) vs. No. 21 Jake Fearnley (TCU), 6-3, 5-7 (5) abandonedNo. 2 – No. 17 Luc Fomba (TCU) d. No. 44 Patrick Maloney (U-M), 7-5, 6-3No. 3 – No. 71 Jack Pinnington (TCU) d. No. 20 Andrew Fenty (U-M), 7-6 (4), 6-1No. 4 – Sander Jong (TCU) d. Nino Ehrenschneider (U-M), 7-6 (4), 6-1No. 5 – No. 92 Sebastian Gorzny (TCU) d. No. 63 Gavin Young (U-M), 7-6 (6), 6-2No. 6 – Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) vs. Pedro Vives (TCU), 4-6, 6-4, 1-2 abandoned

DoublesNo. 1 – No. 7 Andrew Fenty/Gavin Young (U-M) vs. No. 2 Jake Fearnley/Luc Fomba (TCU), 6-6 (4-2) abandonedNo. 2 – Patrick Maloney/Nino Ehrenschneider (U-M) d. Sebatian Gorzny/Pedro Vives (TCU), 7-6 (5)No. 3 – Ondrej Styler/Jacob Bickersteth (U-M) d. No. 22 Lui Maxted/Sander Jong (TCU), 6-2

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