The Minnesota women’s tennis team is off to an 8-1 start to its spring season after winning three home duals this weekend.
On Friday, the Gophers won all nine matches to sweep head coach Tyler Thomson’s alma mater Montana 7-0 at the Baseline Tennis Center.
Freshman Alessandra Ferrazzi recorded a 6-1, 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles.
Sunday, Minnesota beat Eastern Michigan 6-1 in the morning and concluded its weekend with a 7-0 win over Gustavus Adolphus in the afternoon.
Men lose pair
The Minnesota men’s tennis team has now lost six of seven matches to start the spring season after dropping a pair of duals this weekend in Tucson, Ariz.
On Saturday, the 54th-ranked Gophers lost 5-2 to San Diego State. Sunday, coach Geoff Young’s squad fell 6-1 to Arizona.
Senior No. 1 singles player Raoul Schwark posted two singles victories on the weekend.
–Zach Eisendrath
Three all-time marks bested
It was a record-breaking weekend for both the men’s and women’s track and field teams.
Three school records were tackled at Iowa State over the weekend. Sophomores Alicia Rue and Mike Torchia and senior Jamie Cheever all bested Minnesota all-time records.
Rue – who had already broken the school record in January – held that spot for just three weeks before Senior Andrea Smith reclaimed the all-time mark.
But the merry-go-round of pole vault broken records continued as Rue cleared 13-7 and 3/4 to once again sit atop the record books in the event.
And with Big Ten championships approaching, Rue said the constant back-and-forth between the two is a good thing.
“It’s exciting to go back and forth because you have a friendly competition,” she said. “And you push each other to do better.”
Cheever is setting herself up for Big Ten championships a little differently as she broke her second school record in as many weeks.
Just a week removed from breaking a 24 year old Minnesota record in the mile, Cheever took down the 3,000-meter all-time mark with a time of 9 minutes, 20.23 seconds.
And Torchia’s 5,000-meter finish rounded out the weekend as his time of 14:6.64 was a Gophers men’s track and field best.
–Paul J. Cordes
