Strong 'M' tennis smashes Buckeyes

History repeats itself.

Last season, Michigan thumped Ohio State, 7-0, at the Varsity Tennis Center.

On Sunday, the Wolverines - playing their first Big Ten matchup of the season - came out on fire, again scorching the Buckeyes, 7-0, on their home courts.

The change of scenery didn't stop the slaughter that began with Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 6-3 overall) winning all three of its doubles matches. The only close match was junior Jake Raiton and sophomore Matt Wright's 9-8 victory over Ohio State's top freshman Chris Porter and junior Pari Laxminarayan.

FILE PHOTO It only took Michigan senior Dave Paradzik two sets to defeat Ohio State's Chris Porter. His victory set the tone as the Wolverines won all of their matches Sunday.

Seniors Brook Blain and Arvid Swan as well as Wright and Raiton gained their 14th doubles win. Junior Miki Pusztai joined Sophomore John Long to win the third match.

With the doubles wins, Michigan earned the crucial doubles point, meaning they only had to win three of the six singles matches in order to win the contest.

But instead they won all six in straight sets.

Senior Dave Paradzik continued his strong play at No. 1 singles with a win over top freshman Chris Porter, 7-5, 6-4. At No. 2 and 3 singles, Wright defeated Scott Wiles, 6-2, 6-1, and Swan defeated Laxminarayan, 6-1, 6-2.

Junior Will Farah, Raiton and Long finished out the bottom three singles with straight-set victories as well.

"We didn't have any weak spots, especially at No. 2 and No. 3 singles," Michigan assistant coach Dan Goldberg said. "Dave Paradzik also had a good win against Chris Porter, a very good freshman."

The Wolverines also improved in another area.

So far this season, Michigan has settled into a trend of minor inconsistency. While the team has been very successful in most of its matches so far, some individual performances have suffered.

With Sunday's win, Goldberg said he is happy that the team as a whole proved that it can completely dominate a team.

"I think what stood out - and I told the team this before the match - was that we wanted a total team effort with every position solid," Goldberg said.

For the first time this year, the Michigan pairs finally won all three doubles matches.

Goldberg said he isn't too worried, because for the most part, the Wolverines have won the necessary two out of three doubles matches in the past. But he was still pleased that the Wolverines managed to sweep all three matches on Sunday.

"Especially with all three doubles teams, it's how we won that was important," Goldberg said.

Ohio State had started on the right foot with a 4-3 win over Texas El Paso, but fell to Michigan State, 5-2, and then fell even further in the lopsided loss to the Wolverines.

But the Buckeyes will get no rest - they travel to Santa Barbara tomorrow.

Michigan, on the other hand, has this week off before traveling to Indiana for next Sunday's contest against the Hoosiers.

03-24-98