Tennis | 14/04/2022 10:30:00
The University of Minnesota tennis team returns to Baseline Tennis Center this weekend for their final pair of home games of the season. On Friday, the Gophers will face the No. 11 Buckeyes, who sit atop the Big Ten Conference. On Sunday, Penn State will enter the field in Minneapolis, as they sit at No. 61, one spot ahead of the Golden Gophers. Minnesota remains ranked in the ITA Top 75 for the eighth consecutive week.
The Gophers will go for their fourth ranking win of the season against Ohio State and surpass their total of 14 wins in 2018 and 2019. Friday’s first serve is at 3:30 p.m. Minnesota will have the opportunity to move up the standings with the Nittany Lions two points above them. Penn State will face Minnesota for Gophers Senior Day, when the teams meet at 10:00 a.m. Sunday.
Minnesota is looking to continue its success against Penn State, having won seven of its last ten meetings. They last met in the 2021 Big Ten tournament, a 4-3 victory for Minnesota. The Gophers are looking for their first win over Ohio State since 2018. The two teams are playing their 51st game on Friday, splitting the top 50 evenly.
Previous game
Minnesota only played one game last weekend, a road loss to Wisconsin. The Gophers took the lead for the fifth straight game, earning the double point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. For the second straight game, Minnesota was unable to continue on its thrown in singles. Rachel Hanford and Emilee Duong picked up wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, but Wisconsin took the remaining four points en route to the narrow victory. Minnesota fell to 2-5 in the Big Ten and 14-8 overall.
The competition
Ohio State is 14-4 this season, 7-0 in Big Ten games. Three of their four losses have come against schools in North Carolina – North Carolina, NC State and Duke; each team is in the current ITA top 10. Their most recent game was at West Lafayette, a 4-0 win for the visiting Buckeyes. Ohio State has won the last two meetings against Minnesota, the most recent 4-0 at Columbus. The two teams shared the first fifty matches equally.
Penn State is 10-9 on the year, 4-3 in conference play. The Nittany Lions have won over Iowa, Michigan State, Indiana and Illinois. They have won their last two road games, going 6-5 on the year away from State College. Minnesota has won seven of the last ten games, most recently in the Big Ten tournament last year. The two teams have met 35 times, with the Gophers leading the series 26-9.
How to follow
Live streaming and stats for the weekend’s matches will be available through Gopher Athletics, along with updates on GopherWTennis Twitter. The summary and statistics will be displayed once the results are complete.
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