Young and Bickersteth to compete in NCAA individual championships

ANN ARBOR, Michigan. — Young Gavin and Jacob Bickersteth of the University of Michigan men’s tennis team will compete in the NCAA singles and doubles championships scheduled for Monday through Saturday (May 20-25) at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Grades

• Young will compete against Auburn’s Finn Murgett on Monday (May 20) at 4:30 p.m. Originally from the United Kingdom, Murgett went 19-3 this season for the Tigers, playing primarily at the No. 2 spot. He has won his last four games. Murgett is 2-0 against the Big Ten opponents he played this season, Matthew Fullerton (Wisconsin) and Sebastien Collard (Michigan State).

• This is Young’s second consecutive bid for the NCAA individual championship. He reached the second round in 2023 after originally being selected as an alternate.

• Young is 18-13 in singles this season, including a 12-9 doubles record, all ranked No. 1 in singles. He went 5-1 in the Big Ten and earned 12 wins over ranked opponents during the season. Young put together an eight-game winning streak during the season during his run to the ITA All-America semifinals and qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals. He was named first-team All-Big Ten last month and was ranked No. 9 by the ITA this season.

• The NCAA Doubles Championship begins Tuesday (May 21) for Young and partner Bickersteth. The duo faces Gianluca Brunkow and Pablo Masjuan of UC Santa Barabara, with match time to be determined. The pair is 10-5 on the season, including wins over Big Ten pairs Aristotelis Thanos/Taym Alazmeh (Michigan State) and Anton Shepp/Nic Wiedenhorn (Nebraska).

• This is Young’s third time being selected for the Doubles Championship, with his third different partner. He qualified in 2022 with Ondrej Styler and in 2023 with andres fenty. Young and Fenty, All-Americans in doubles last season, reached the quarterfinals and finished No. 5, the highest in school history for a doubles pair. This is Bickersteth’s first time qualifying in doubles.

• Bickersteth and Young are 10-7 in dual matches this season. They have three wins over ranked opponents and put together a six-game winning streak this season. The pair reached 17th place in the ITA rankings this season.