Friday:
Live Stats / Video I
Varsity Tennis CenterSunday:
Franklin Athletic ClubDETROIT (2/4/16) – The University of Detroit Mercy men's tennis team returns to action this weekend with a road match against the University of Michigan on Friday and the Titans' home opener Sunday against Wayne State University.
Friday's contest with the Wolverines is set to begin at 4 p.m. from the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., while Sunday's match is slated for a 6 p.m. start from the Franklin Athletic Club in Southfield, Mich.
The Michigan athletic communications office will provide live scoring and live video of Friday's contest. Admission into the match is free.
SCOUTING THE TITANS Detroit is 1-4 in the early going of the 2016 season. The Titans have faced a tough slate through the early portion of the schedule, with Notre Dame and Michigan State on the docket. Detroit faces three more Big Ten this season in Michigan, Northwestern and Purdue.
As a team, the Titans are 11-19 in singles with juniors
Patryk Koscielski and
Ismail Kadyrov and freshmen
Nicholas Solarewicz and
Adam Zychowicz leading the way with two wins apiece.
In doubles, Detroit is 9-6 through the early going of 2016. The duo of junior
Chance Conley and freshman
Griffin Mertz are a perfect 5-0 in doubles. The Titans have won three of the last four doubles points.
LAST TIME OUT The Titans dropped a dual match last weekend from East Lansing, Mich. Detroit fell to both Ball State and Michigan State by a 5-2 score. Kadyrov led the squad with a pair of singles wins and a 1-1 split in doubles. Conley and Mertz went 2-0 to lead the doubles pairings.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES Michigan is 2-1 on the young season with wins over Princeton and Cornell. The Wolverines lost their season opener to Kentucky before winning the next two matches.
Dating back to last fall, the Wolverines are 54-26 in singles competition and 15-13 in doubles. Michigan has remained strong at the bottom of the lineup, as the Wolverines feature an 8-0 record at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. Freshman Myles Schalet is 3-0 at No. 6, while sophomore Carter Lin, sophomore Runhao Hua and junior Alex Knight have seen action at No. 4 and No. 5.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS Wayne State has yet to compete since the fall and opens up the spring season at Detroit. The Warriors are coming off a season where they went 10-11 in 2015. Last year, Wayne State also began the season against Detroit, with the Titans picking up a 7-0 win.
The Warriors feature a regionally-ranked doubles team in Clement Charriere and Taylor Vane, who were ranked No. 5 in the Midwest Region last fall.
ALL-TIME RECORDS The Titans are 1-13 all-time against Michigan and 15-7 against Wayne State.
WELCOME BACK The Titans returned six players from the 2015 season, including senior
Rafael Orantes, juniors
Kacper Stelmaszak,
Chance Conley,
Ismail Kadyrov,
Patryk Koscielski and sophomore
Nathan Ponton. The freshman class of
Griffin Mertz,
Nicholas Solarewicz and
Adam Zychowicz round out the roster for Detroit.
Koscielski led the team with 13 singles victories in 2014-15, followed by Stelmaszak and Ponton with 10 apiece. Koscielski also led the squad with 10 doubles victories last season. Ponton recorded eight doubles wins, while Conley picked up seven.
Detroit hopes to build upon a strong fall that saw the team go 16-13 in singles. Conley, Orantes and Ponton each went 2-1 individually, while promising newcomers Zychowicz, Solarewicz and Mertz combined to go 8-2 in singles fall action.
2016 HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL The Titans were selected fifth in the 2016 Horizon League Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's coaches, the conference office announced Friday afternoon. The top-six teams in the HL standings will make the Horizon League Tournament, hosted by the University of Michigan in 2016.
| Men's HL Preseason Poll |
| Rank | School | Points (1st place votes) |
| T-1 | Green Bay | 46 (4) |
| T-1 | Valparaiso | 46 (4) |
| 3 | Cleveland State | 37 |
| 4 | Youngstown State | 28 |
| 5 | Detroit | 22 |
| 6 | Illinois-Chicago | 18 |
| 7 | Northern Kentucky | 14 |
| 8 | Wright State | 13 |
ON TAP After this weekend's action, the Titans return to the court Friday, Feb. 12 at Toledo. Detroit then turns its attention to Western Michigan, where the Titans take on the Broncos at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14.
