Weekend split drops Blue to 2nd place

It happened again.

All season long the Wolverines have followed a certain path when they play - they destroy weaker teams and barely lose to stronger ones.

That was the case again this weekend when No. 4-in-the-region Michigan (6-1 Big Ten, 12-5 overall) took to the road and clobbered Wisconsin 5-2 yesterday. The win followed their first Big Ten loss of the season, 5-2 to Northwestern on Saturday in Evanston.

The loss dropped Michigan to second place in the Big Ten behind Illinois. Northwestern remains in third.

DANA LINNANE/Daily After leading 4-1 in the first set and 5-2 in the second in Northwestern, David Paradzik fell to No. 18 Alex Witt as Michigan lost to the Wildcats on Saturday.

As in their loss to Notre Dame on Thursday, the Wolverines came extremely close to beating a higher-ranked opponent.

And when a match is close, it's usually decided by the doubles point.

But this shouldn't have been a problem for Michigan. After all, for the past seven matches the Wolverines have done just that - mainly due to the strong play at No.1 doubles by seniors Brook Blain and Arvid Swan, and the No.2 doubles tandem of junior Jake Raiton and sophomore Matt Wright.

But playing outside for the first time in three weeks - against the No. 2 team in the region - didn't help the Wolverines.

The No. 3 doubles team hadn't won in the past four matches so Michigan coach Brian Eisner decided to make a change. The new duo of senior Dave Paradzik and Will Farah fared a little better against Notre Dame, but was crushed by the team of Martin Bengtsson and Derrick Nguyen 8-1. Raiton and Wright's consistent play was stopped by Northwestern's Marc Silva and Ry Tarpley, 8-3.

Not even Blain and Swan could keep their seven-match win streak alive, falling to Alex Witt and Doug Bohaboy in a tight 8-6 loss.

"At No. 2 and No. 3 doubles we didn't come out firing," Eisner said. "We didn't have the confidence."

With a one-point deficit and six singles matches against some of the highest-ranked singles players in the country left, the outlook was bleak for the Wolverines.

But just as in the loss to Notre Dame, the Wolverines swung hard against the Wildcats, but came up short in the end.

After losing his first match in his past 12 on Thursday, Swan returned to his winning ways when he defeated Bohaboy 7-6, 6-3.

"He broke him down physically and emotionally," Eisner said. "We didn't do enough of that today."

Blain continued his comeback with a comeback win himself, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 over Bengtsson, for his third straight win.

"Brook played very well," Eisner said. "By losing the first set and coming back, it is a testament to what a great fighter he is."

The rest of the Wolverines fought hard but came up short against the powerful Northwestern singles players.

Paradzik, who was up 4-1 in the first and 5-2 in the second, looked to be dominating the 18th-ranked Witt. But the Big Ten singles runner-up went on an unbelievable comeback run and stole the match from Paradzik in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.

Sophomore John Long came close to winning for the second straight match against a stronger opponent, but he too came up short in his 6-4, 6-4 loss to Nguyen.

Northwestern's Tarpley stole one from Farah, 6-3, 7-5, to end the match.

"We had our chances," Eisner said. "I just hope we can use this, not as a negative, but as a positive."

04-20-98