:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59723181/allen.0.jpeg)
A day after the #37 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s tennis team upset #19 Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Minnesota would sweep #14 Oklahoma 4-0. The impressive upset win on Oklahoma’s home court will send the Gophers to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.
The Gophers got off on the right foot immediately in the match. The Gophers took the doubles point after winning two of the three doubles matches. . Felix Corwin and Josip Krstanovic got the win in the #1 doubles match knocking off the 43rd ranked team in the country Alex Bashki and Jake Van Enburgh 6-4. A few minutes later Marino Alpeza and Stefan Milicevic defated the #3 Sooner pair 7-5 to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead in the match.
Corwin would continue his hot streak defeating Oklahoma’s Bakshi in the #1 singles match 6-4, 6-2. Corwin has now defeated the #30, #37 and #3 singles players in the country in his last three matches. Krstanovic would win his #4 singles match over Oklahoma’s Adrian Oetzbach by a carbon copy 6-4, 6-2 score to put the Gophers on the brink of the upset.
The honors would go to #5 singles player Jackson Allen. He would lose the first set to the Sooners Jochen Bertsch 3-6. He battled back to win the second set 6-3, and then took the third set 6-2 to put the Gophers over the top.
Another view of Allen’s match point and our clinching celebration! #Gophers pic.twitter.com/vaB2I3dELn
— Minnesota M Tennis (@GopherMTennis) May 12, 2018
The Gophers will now participate in the NCAA Sweet 16 held at Wake Forest University next weekend. It will be the first trip to the round of 16 for the Gophers since 2000. The Gophers will try and get revenge against #3 Ohio State in the round of 16. The Buckeyes have defeated the Gophers twice this season, 5-2 in Big Ten regular season play and 4-1 in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The match will take place at 11AM central on Friday.