Michigan
Wolverine Invitational
Mahtani, Muresan Capture Flight Wins at Wolverine Invite
10/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Event: Wolverine Invitational (Day 3 of 3)
Scoring: No team scoring
Next U-M Match: Tuesday, Oct. 6 -- at Riviera/ITA All-American Championships (Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
• Draws (PDF): Blue | Maize | Wolverine
• Results (PDF): Doubles | Singles
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- On the third and final day of the Wolverine Invitational at the Varsity Tennis Center today (Sunday, Oct. 4), senior Tania Mahtani (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) won the Blue flight, while junior Denise Muresan (Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) won the Maize Flight. Both Wolverines dropped their first sets before rebounding to win the second set and subsequent tiebreaker.
Muresan defeated No. 29 Ana Zubori of South Carolina (5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6)) in the Maize flight championship after advancing with three consecutive straight-set wins. The junior regrouped after a disappointing first-set loss to come away with the day's most dramatic win. Mahtani also battled back from a 1-0 hole to defeat South Carolina's Jossi Anderson, 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7), when Anderson's return shot on match point landed in the net.
Junior Kari Wig (Cochrane, Alberta/Cochrane) took third place in the Wolverine draw after blanking Marquette's Elly Strother, 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Mimi Nguyen (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan), in her first action as a Wolverine, was in the third-place match of the Blue draw but was unable to come away with a win, dropping a 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) decision to Bhavani Tirumurti of Purdue.
Mahtani, Nguyen, Taney and junior Rika Tatsuno (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) will now jet off to Pacific Palisades, Calif., for qualifying action at the ITA/All-American Tournament, Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct. 6-7). Tatsuno will compete in singles qualifying while pairing with Taney for doubles action. Nguyen and Mahtani will also compete in doubles. The rest of the team will be back in action next weekend (Fri-Sun., Oct. 9-11) at the Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky.
RESULTS
Singles
Tania Mahtani
Blue first round: defeat G. Hush (MARQ), 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (7)
Blue second round: def. Martzolf (MIA), 6-3, 6-3
Blue semifinal round: def. Tirumurti (PUR), 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (8)
Blue championship: def. Andersson (SC), 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7)
Denise Muresan
Maize first round: def. Chang (EMU), 7-5, 6-2
Maize second round: def. Dracheva (MIA), 6-2, 6-0
Maize semifinal round: def. Rabot (PUR), 6-4, 6-2
Maize championship: def. Zubori (SC), 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6)
Mimi Nguyen
Blue first round: def. Westerink (EMU), 6-1, 7-6
Blue second round: def. R. Hush (MARQ), 6-4, 6-4
Blue semifinal round: l, Andersson (SC), 6-1, 6-3
Third place match: l. Tirumurti (PUR) 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6)
Michelle Sulahian
Blue first round: def. Larson (MIA), 6-4, 6-1
Blue second round: l, Andersson (SC), 7-5, 6-3
Consolation: l, R. Hush (MARQ), 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (8)
Consolation: def. Martzolf (MIA), 6-3, 6-2
Whitney Taney
Maize first round: def. Fischer (MARQ), 6-0, 6-2
Maize second round: def. Sammons (PUR), 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (8)
Maize semifinal round: l, Zubori (SC) , 6-3, 6-3
Rika Tatsuno
Maize first round: def. Calderon (MARQ), 7-5, 6-4
Maize second round: l., Rabot (PUR) 0-6, 6-2, 1-0 (3)
Consolation: def. Dracheva (MIA), 6-3, 6-0
Consolation: l, Jocic (SC), 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
Kari Wig
Wolverine first round: def. Wilson (MARQ), 6-1, 6-2
Wolverine second round: Kerr (WMU), 6-3, 6-0
Wolverine semifinal round: Moccia (WMU) def. Wig (U-M), 7-6, 6-3
Third place match: Wig (U-M) def. Strother (MARQ), 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
Taney/Tatsuno (U-M) def. Magi/Martin (Purdue) - 8-1
Matsuto/Pastunink (WMU) def. Mahtani/Nguyen (U-M) - 8-6
Martzolf/Dracheva (Miami) def. Muresan/Sulahian (U-M) - 9-7
Fischer/Strother (Marquette) def. Fournier/Wig (U-M)- 8-3
Sammons/Rabot (Purdue) def Taney/Tatsuno (U-M) - 9-7
Jocic/Andersson (S.C.) def. Mahtani/Nguyen (U-M) - 9-7
Ruiz/R. Hush (Marquette) def. Muresan/Sulahian (U-M) - 8-5
Fournier/Wig (U-M) def. Martzolf/Dracheva (Miami) - 8-6
Zubori/Sarri-Bystrom (S.C.) def. Muresan/Tatsuno (U-M) - 8-6
Mahtani/Nguyen (U-M) def. Xu/Rivero (EMU) - 8-1
Sulahian/Wig (U-M) def. Dudzik/Nivia (WMU) - 8-3
N O T E S
• Freshmen Mimi Nguyen and Taylor Fournier made their collegiate debut for the Wolverines this weekend. Nguyen made it to the semifinals of the Blue Draw and finished the weekend with a 2-2 singles mark. Fournier paired with Kari Wig and sported a 1-1 doubles record.
• The single- flight wins for both Tania Mahtani and Denise Muresan mark the first individual tournament titles for both players.
• Action on Friday was mostly indoors until a break in the rain allowed a few matches to be played outdoors. All of Saturday's matches were played indoors, while all of Sunday was outdoors.
Q U O T E S
U-M Junior Denise Muresan
On regrouping after the first set loss ... "I was just telling myself that I really needed to get my feet going because the first set (loss) was just by a few points, just a couple of loose errors. I told myself that I needed to be more aggressive but consistent. She is a really tough player so it is easy to fall into just trying to get the ball back in the court. I was trying to go for my first serve more because that makes a huge difference."
On her first title ... "It is really important. I definitely have been looking to do well this fall and to get an NCAA ranking. I just want to go into the (dual-match) season starting out strong."
U-M Senior Tania Mahtani
On her match ... "She played really well the first set. I knew that I was in every point and in every game so I knew that it was only a matter of time before I could get my rhythm and slowly get back in the match. I think that the first set came down to a few points here and there. I knew the whole time that once I found my range, I could do well. She is a really good player and I needed to make sure I was really steady that I made her play a lot. She was much more aggressive in the first set and I had to take over in the second."
On going into ITA ... "I think that it was great we got to play all of these matches. The 10-point tiebreakers are a great way to test yourself under pressure so it definitely gives us some confidence."
Michigan Head coach Ronni Bernstein
On the team's play ..."For Denise, it is definitely a great win for her. We have talked as a team and one of our goals was to have a good fall. I think for her that is a really great start to beat such an experienced and highly ranked player. For our first event, singles-wise, we looked really good."
On the goals for the fall season ... "We just want to keep working on things this fall. We want to get the doubles going, and just figure out teams. We lost a lot of close matches this weekend so we just want to keep improving on the doubles. The fall is to get us ready for January. So what happens in the fall, if we have success, we will have confidence going into the dual-match season."
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
