Men's tennis gives all-around performance

It might have been Halloween night across America, but the courts at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign were not decked with decorations. Candy and trick-or-treating were not allowed, just tennis balls, rackets and the best individual players from the ITA Midwest Region.

The Rolex Regional Championships is the most crucial tournament for individual players in Division I - not only because it determines rankings and bragging rights for the upcoming spring season, but also because of its role in determining future positioning.

A special committee from the ITA will decide at the end of the tournament which team is the strongest. That team will represent the Midwest at the National Indoor Championships in February to battle the other seven regional winners.

The Wolverines had their work cut out for them if they wanted to be that winning team. The tournament looked to be their toughest one yet, because it brought together all of the Big Ten teams except Penn State.

Rival Notre Dame also was prowling the courts at Illinois, hoping to avenge its 0-for-4 performance against Michigan last month at the Tar Heel Invitational. Michigan junior William Farah handled the only meeting between the Fighting Irish and the Wolverines, dominating in his early rounds. The tournament featured the usual Michigan tennis outcome - a well-balanced, all-round effort by every member of the team.

Senior David Paradzik, seeded 17th, cruised to three victories before falling to fourth-seeded Bryan Smith in the fourth round. Junior Jake Raiton lost a heartbreaking three-set loss in the third round, and No. 23 Brook Blain also was impressive both in singles and doubles play.

Overall, the statistics tend to indicate Michigan was the strongest team of the tournament.

The Wolverines went undefeated until the third round, and while they did not have any players in the finals, they did have the most players (four) in the round of 16. Illinois, last season's Rolex winner, had three but also lost in its only match with the Wolverines.

"I think we dominated the tournament even with the draw," said senior David Paradzik.

"We beat a lot of the seeded players," added Farah. "We showed the rest of the region that we can be a top team."

If any team had Michigan's number in Champaign, it was Northwestern, whose domination of Michigan is credited to senior Alex Witt.

Witt, the No. 3 seed, crushed sophomore Matt Wright's hopes of advancing to the semifinals in a close 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 battle.

Witt's racket also ended the reign of Michigan senior Arvid Swan, who was the only Wolverine to make it to the semifinals.

But Witt didn't stop there. He joined teammate Martin Bengtsson to upset the seventh-seeded duo of Blain and Swan in the fourth round. The Rolex Regionals were set up to pit the strongest players against each other no matter what team they are on. Since it is an individual tournament, it was possible that two Michigan players could face each other. Sunday, Farah and Swan found themselves in that position coming into the fourth round. Both, however, knew that it wasn't any different than playing another school.

"I knew it was a clear-cut regular match," said Farah after his loss to his fellow teammate.

Farah was confident that he could have advanced to the semifinals if he didn't have to face his teammate.

The Wolverines seem to be pleased with their win, but the work doesn't stop as they will travel to Minnesota next weekend for the first ever Ice Volleys. Michigan, ranked 51st in the nation, will compete against three teams - Minnesota, Washington and Arizona State - all of which are ranked in the top 50.

11-04-97