Michigan
Notre Dame
Rutherford, Michigan Rally to Defeat No. 21 Notre Dame
1/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 34-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team dropped the first set in five of the six singles contests but rallied to win three matches and two in doubles to upset No. 21-ranked Notre Dame 4-3 on Thursday (Jan. 29) at the Varsity Tennis Center. U-M snapped a nine-match series winning streak by Notre Dame and earned its first victory over the Fighting Irish in 10 years.
| | Tipirneni earned a 6-3, 6-3 win in the No. 3 singles slot. |
Also notching singles points for U-M were junior Michelle DaCosta (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne HS) and senior Kavitha Tipirneni (Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Darby HS), who won at No. 2 and 3, respectively. After dropping the first set 3-6 against Christian Thompson, DaCosta swept all six games in the second and tallied a 6-2 mark in the third set to earn her fourth consecutive singles win. Tipirneni needed just two sets to defeat Catrina Thompson, posting a 6-3, 6-3 score to give the Wolverines their first singles win of the contest.
Doubles proved to the tiebreaker as U-M gained the early lead in the meet by clinching the doubles point with a pair of wins from three competitive contests. After the teams split matches at the No. 2 and 3 positions, DaCosta and Delicata sealed it for the Wolverines with an 8-5 victory over Catrina and Christian Thompson. The U-M tandem broke Notre Dame's serve in the fifth and ninth games to take control of the match and, with DaCosta serving for the win, won four consecutive points to put the Wolverines in the lead heading into the singles matches.
U-M will return to action next week for its first two-match weekend of the 2003-04 season. On Friday (Feb. 6) the Wolverines will square off against Maryland at 4 p.m., and on Sunday (Feb. 8) they will face South Carolina at 11 a.m. Both duals will be held at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Alicia Salas (ND) d. Elizabeth Exon, 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 -- Michelle DaCosta (U-M) d. Christian Thompson, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 -- Kavitha Tipirneni (U-M) d. Catrina Thompson, 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 -- Lauren Connelly (ND) d. Chrissie Nolan, 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 -- Leanne Rutherford (U-M) d. Sarah Jane Connelly, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
No. 6 -- Kristina Stastny (ND) d. Kara Delicata, 6-7(3), 6-4, 5-7
Doubles
No. 1 -- DaCosta/Delicata (U-M) d. Thompson/Thompson, 8-6
No. 2 -- #39 Salas/L. Connelly (ND) d. Exon/Tipirneni, 8-6
No. 3 -- Kim Plaushines/Debra Streifler (U-M) d. S. Connelly/Stastny, 8-5
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
