Michigan
Michigan Invitational
Michigan Successful on Opening Day of Own Invitational
1/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's tennis team completed the first day of action at the 2005 Michigan Invitational Friday afternoon (Jan. 7) at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines claimed a pair of doubles victories against Eastern Michigan before winning five of seven singles matches against Louisiana State later in the day.
U-M earned a pair of convincing wins in its doubles session against the Eagles, as senior Leanne Rutherford (Calgary, Alberta/National Sports School) and junior Debra Streifler (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park HS) defeated Yana Parfenyuk and Elizabeth Syrova (8-3), and junior Nina Yaftali (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake HS) and sophomore Elizabeth Exon (Irvine, Calif./Woodridge HS) overtook Catherian Bestahorn and Flavia Micati (8-1).
Senior Michelle DaCosta (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne HS) moved into a tie for 13th place with Paula Reichert (1983-86) on Michigan's all-time singles win chart with her 6-0, 6-1 triumph over LSU's Amanda Mang. DaCosta holds a career singles mark of 63-48. Sophomore Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary) also had a fairly easy time with her opponent, disposing of Marina Chiarelli 6-1, 6-4. Fellow sophomore Lindsey Goldstein (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park HS) closed out Camila Caliari 6-4, 6-3 just minutes before Delicata's victory.
Exon followed suit with a tough 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Lauren Seaman, while freshman Monica Sly (Belleair, Fla./Shorecrest Preparatory School) was able to pull out a gutsy 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over an ailing Daysi Espinal to close out the first day of play.
The Wolverines return to the Varsity Tennis Center tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 8) for the second day of competition. U-M will square off against Louisiana State in doubles at 10 a.m. before facing Georgia Tech in singles at 11:30 a.m. The Michigan Invitational is U-M's final tuneup before the dual match season-opener against DePaul next Saturday (Jan. 15) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
N O T E S
The Michigan Invitational is based on a "hidden dual-match" format, where teams square off against each other but the outcome of the match is not scored as a team effort. However, each match counts toward the individual players' records and rankings.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
