Michigan
Penn State
Michigan Opens Big Ten Schedule with Win at Penn State
2/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The University of Michigan women's tennis team opened the Big Ten Conference dual match season with a commanding 6-1 victory against Penn State Saturday afternoon (Feb. 15) at the Penn State Tennis Center. The 28th-ranked Wolverines (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) won two of the three doubles matches to earn the team point and claimed victories in five singles matches against the Lady Lions (0-5, 0-2 Big Ten).
| | Streifler was a straight-set winner at No. 6 singles in her first Big Ten match. |
Michigan put the match away with five straight-set singles wins. DaCosta ended a three-match losing streak with a 7-5, 7-6(6) win against Marton at the top spot. The Lady Lions received their only point of the match as Leigh Ann Merryman registered a 6-0, 7-5 victory against junior Kavitha Tipirneni (Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Darby HS) at No. 2. Nolan, Rutherford, junior Kim Plaushines (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine HS) and Streifler collected wins at the No. 3 through No. 6 spots, respectively, to finish off the dominating team victory.
Michigan completes the conference-opening weekend at Ohio State tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 16). The match will be played at the Stickney Tennis Center beginning at noon.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Michelle DaCosta (U-M) d. Megan Marton, 7-5, 7-6(6)
No. 2 -- Leigh Ann Merryman (PSU) d. Kavitha Tipirneni, 6-0, 7-5
No. 3 -- Chrissie Nolan (U-M) d. Maaria Husain, 6-3, 7-5
No. 4 -- Leanne Rutherford (U-M) d. Judy Wang, 7-6, 7-5
No. 5 -- Kim Plaushines (U-M) d. Sarah Spence, 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 -- Debra Streifler (U-M) d. Lindsay Downing, 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- DaCosta/Rutherford (U-M) d. Wang/Marton, 8-4
No. 2 -- Merryman/Husain (PSU) d. Plaushines/Tipirneni, 8-5
No. 3 -- Nolan/Streifler (U-M) d. Jessica McKeown/Downing, 8-3
Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
