Momentum on Gophers' side entering Big Ten tennis tournament

More than a day had passed since the Gophers men's tennis team upset No. 3-ranked Illinois, but the players couldn't shake the excitement from the victory that eventually helped them claim a share of a Big Ten championship.

"I was a little worried because at the Sunday morning breakfast, they were talking about the Friday night match win over Illinois, which is understandable," coach Geoff Young said. "But at the same time, we still had a tough one ahead of us. I was concerned we weren't leaving that one behind. But we got it done."

The excitement fueled another victory against a ranked opponent, No. 27 Northwestern, at the Baseline Tennis Center on Sunday that gave the Gophers their first Big Ten title in 20 years. They shared the championship, at 10-1, with Illinois and Ohio State.

The Gophers hope the momentum continues this weekend at the Big Ten tournament in Illinois. They earned a first-round bye and face the winner of Penn State-Michigan in Friday's quarterfinals. Only Ohio State and Illinois have won Big Ten tournament team titles since 2009.

"The weekend we had showed what we need to do to take [the next step]," Gophers senior All-America standout Leandro Toledo said. "We managed to come back and show a lot of heart and compete and believe that we can actually do it."

That belief started to bloom in the fall when the team put together strong individual performances. Freshmen Felix Corwin and Matic Spec faced off in the Big Ten indoor singles championship, with Corwin becoming the first Gopher to win the title since 2003.

Five-plus months later, Corwin and Spec played an important role in securing the spring regular-season team title. Corwin rallied from behind to win the final match on Sunday and cue the celebration.

Spec won his two singles matches and one doubles match in the final weekend. That earned him Big Ten Player of the Week honors, the third consecutive honor for the Gophers. Toledo won the previous two weeks.

"I think it says we're pretty good right now and we are playing great tennis all around," Spec said about the run of Big Ten honors. "We're ready for all the postseason matches."