Michigan
Minnesota
Strong Singles Play Sends Michigan Past Minnesota
3/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: #19 Michigan 5, Minnesota 2
Records: U-M (7-4, 2-0 Big Ten), Minnesota (7-6, 0-2 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Sunday, March 22 -- vs. Iowa (Varsity Tennis Center), 11 a.m.
Photo Gallery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team remained undefeated in the Big Ten Conference with a 5-2 victory over No. 59 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon (March 21) at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wolverines (7-4, 2-0 Big Ten) fell short in doubles but claimed five of the six matches in singles playto clinch their sixth straight win over the Golden Gophers (7-6, 0-2 Big Ten). U-M has now won 22 straight matches on its home courts.
Michigan's No. 31-ranked doubles pairing of senior Chisako Sugiyama(Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy) and junior Tania Mahtani(Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) broke Karina Chiarelli and Alessandra Ferrazzi's serve in the third game to help open up a 3-1 lead at No. 1 doubles, but the Gopher duo broke back in the sixth game to tie the match at 3-3. The two teams held serve throughout the next four games to keep the score knotted at 5-5, and then Chiarelli and Ferrazzi took control and won three straight games to wrap up an 8-5 victory. It marked Sugiyama and Mahtani's first career loss in Big Ten play (11-1).
Senior Lindsey Howard(Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin HS) and sophomore Denise Muresan(Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson HS) snapped a two-match losing skid and kept the Wolverines in contention with an 8-5 triumph over Alex Seaton and Magdalena Wiecha at No. 3. With the match all square at 4-4, Howard and Muresan claimed four of the next six games to secure their fifth win of 2008-09.
Minnesota's Tijana Koprivica and Niltooli Wilkins hit their stride early and jumped out to a 6-2 lead over sophomores Whitney Taney(Edina, Minn./Edina HS) and Rika Tatsuno(Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) at No. 2. The U-M tandem hung tough and won three of the next four games to cut the deficit to 7-5, but Koprivica and Niltooli earned a late break to clinch an 8-5 victory and the first team point for the Gophers.
Tatsuno, who returned to the national singles rankings this week at No. 111, took little time in evening the team score at 1-1. She won the first nine games in a 6-0, 6-3 win over Chiarelli at No. 1 in a match that lasted just over an hour. Muresan put Michigan ahead for good with a dominating 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Wiecha at No. 5, and Taney got back on a winning track and brought U-M closer to the team victory with a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Wilkins at No. 4.
Koprivica kept Minnesota alive with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mahtani at No. 3, but freshman Michelle Sulahian(Valley Glen, Calif./Campbell Hall School) closed the door on the Gophers with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Jackie Sperling at No. 6. Sulahian erased a 5-3 deficit in the second set by winning three straight games, and she finished off Sperling in the tiebreak by claiming five of the final seven points. Sulahian, who has clinched a Michigan win three times this season, has won four straight and holds a team-best 6-2 record in dual-match play.
Sugiyama, ranked 59th nationally, closed out the match on a winning note with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 comeback victory over Ferrazzi at No. 2. Sugiyama, who needs just four more wins to become the program's all-time leader in singles wins, has won 31 of her 32 career Big Ten matches, including 22 straight.
The Wolverines welcome Iowa to the Varsity Tennis Center on Sunday (March 22) for an 11 a.m. match.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #111 Rika Tatsuno (U-M) d. Karina Chiarelli, 6-0, 6-3
No. 2 -- #59 Chisako Sugiyama (U-M) d. Alessandra Ferrazzi, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 -- Tijana Koprivica (Minnesota) d. Tania Mahtani, 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 -- Whitney Taney (U-M) d. Niltooli Wilkins, 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 -- Denise Muresan (U-M) d. Magdalena Wiecha, 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 -- Michelle Sulahian (U-M) d. Jackie Sperling, 6-3, 7-6(4)
Doubles
No. 1 -- Chiarelli/Ferrazzi (Minnesota) d. #31 Mahtani/Sugiyama, 8-5
No. 2 -- Koprivica/Wilkins (Minnesota) d. Taney/Tatsuno, 8-5
No. 3 -- Lindsey Howard/Muresan (U-M) d. Alex Seaton/Wiecha, 8-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2, Singles 1-5-4-3-6-2
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 645-0045
Players Mentioned
