
Sugiyama Earns Fifth Career Big Ten Weekly Award
4/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Junior Chisako Sugiyama(Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy) of the No. 21-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team was named the Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Week, the league office announced Wednesday (April 23). Sugiyama went a combined 4-0 at the top singles and doubles positions this past weekend to help the Wolverines extend their winning streak to 14 matches with home wins over Ohio State and Indiana. In the process, Sugiyama completed an undefeated 10-0 Big Ten season at both the No. 1 singles and doubles positions.
The honor marks Sugiyama's program-record fifth career Big Ten Athlete of the Week award. She has already earned the accolade twice this season (Feb. 20, March 19) and twice as a sophomore in 2007 (Jan. 31, March 13). Sugiyama joins Northwestern's Cristelle Grier and Georgia Rose as the only student-athletes to have earned five career Big Ten weekly awards.
In Friday's (April 18) 6-1 victory over the Buckeyes, Sugiyama and sophomore Tania Mahtani(Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) helped U-M secure its 13th straight doubles point by earning a 9-7 decision over Angela DiPastina and Christina Keesey. Sugiyama then clinched the team win with a 7-5, 6-2 singles triumph over DiPastina.
In Sunday's (April 20) 7-0 blanking of the Hoosiers, Sugiyama and Mahtani contributed to Michigan's ninth doubles sweep of the year with a 9-7 victory over Brianna Williams and Ekaterina Zapadalova. Sugiyama's 7-5, 6-0 singles decision over Alba Berdala put the Wolverines in front 3-0.
Sugiyama is ranked 49th nationally in singles and has defeated her last 15 opponents in straight sets. Sugiyama and Mahtani, ranked No. 44 in doubles, have won 15 of their last 16 matches.
Sugiyama leads the Maize and Blue in overall singles wins with 24 (24-10), and she has paired with Mahtani for a team-high 20 doubles victories (20-6). Sugiyama has won a team-best 26 of 33 doubles matches overall in 2007-08.
Sugiyama needs just one singles win to move into the top five on U-M's career singles victories chart (82). Her career singles winning percentage of .757 (81-26) ranks first in program history.
The Wolverines (16-4, 9-1 Big Ten) will enter the 2008 Big Ten Championship as the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of No. 7 seed Iowa and No. 10 seed Penn State in the quarterfinals on Friday (April 25) at 2 p.m. The team tournament will be played April 24-27 at Purdue University's Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Ind.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423




