Michigan
Kentucky
Wolverines Unable to Upend Seventh-Ranked Kentucky
2/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 29 University of Michigan women's tennis team was unable to upset No. 7 Kentucky Saturday afternoon (Feb. 26), suffering a 5-2 defeat to the Wildcats at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines (3-5) entered the singles competition with momentum after claiming two of three doubles matches for the first team point. Kentucky (10-3) then responded with wins on five of six singles courts en route to the team victory.
Michigan's No. 13-ranked doubles tandem of senior Michelle DaCosta (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne HS) and sophomore Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary) grabbed an early lead at No. 1 over the Wildcats' sixth-ranked pair of Aibika Kalsarieva and Sarah Foster. However, Kentucky made a late charge and claimed an 8-6 victory for the early edge in doubles.
Senior Leanne Rutherford (Calgary, Alberta/National Sports School) and freshman Allie Shafner (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) continued their strong play together, upsetting No. 16 Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk at No. 2 to draw even with Kentucky. With the victory, Rutherford and Shafner improve to 4-1 on the dual match season.
Junior Nina Yaftali (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake HS) and sophomore Elizabeth Exon (Irvine, Calif./Woodridge HS) went tooth-and-nail with Lara Maurer and Emily Foster through 16 games before the Wolverine pair won the tiebreaker set 7-4 to clinch the doubles point for Michigan.
The Wildcats picked up straight-set victories at Nos. 2, 5 and 1 to take a 3-1 lead in the match. Junior Debra Streifler (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park HS) prevented Kentucky from sealing the team win, as she overtook Liis Sober 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6 for her 50th career singles victory at Michigan.
Any thoughts of a U-M comeback were short-lived, as 43rd-ranked Coventry moved past Exon (6-2, 6-4) to wrap up Kentucky's fourth straight win against Big Ten Conference opposition. Schwenk capped off the scoring by outlasting Rutherford in a super-tiebreaker, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(7).
The Wolverines will spend Spring Break in San Diego, Calif., and have scheduled a non-conference meeting with San Diego State next Thursday (March 3, 2 p.m. PST) at the SDSU Tennis Stadium.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #8 Aibika Kalsarieva (UK) d. #44 Michelle DaCosta, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 -- #53 Sarah Foster (UK) d. Kara Delicata, 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 -- #43 Kim Coventry (UK) d. Elizabeth Exon, 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 -- Joelle Schwenk (UK) d. Leanne Rutherford, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(7)
No. 5 -- Lara Maurer (UK) d. Nina Yaftali, 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 -- Debra Streifler (U-M) d. Liis Sober, 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- #6 Kalsarieva/Sarah Foster (UK) d. #13 DaCosta/Delicata, 8-6
No. 2 -- Allie Shafner/Rutherford (U-M) d. #16 Coventry/Schwenk, 8-6
No. 3 -- Exon/Yaftali (U-M) d. Maurer/Emily Foster, 9-8(4)
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2-3, Singles 2-5-1-6-3-4
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
