Michigan
Sacramento State
Michigan Outlasts Sacramento State in NCAA First Round
5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Courtney Tennis Center)
Event: NCAA Championship (First Round)
Score: #17 Michigan 4, Sacramento State 2
Records: U-M (18-6),SSU (19-9)
Next U-M Match: Saturday, May 9 -- at #5 Notre Dame at NCAA Championship Second Round (South Bend, Ind.), 1 p.m.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team opened the 2009 NCAA Championship with a 4-2 victory over No. 58 Sacramento State on Friday (May 8) at the University of Notre Dame's Courtney Tennis Center. The Wolverines (18-6)secured their 17th doubles point of the season and posted straight-set victories in three of the first five completed singles matches to earn a trip to second round of the national tournament for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
U-M's No. 42-ranked duo of senior Chisako Sugiyama(Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy) and junior Tania Mahtani(Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) hit its stride early and rolled to an easy 8-3 victory over Melissa Valenzuela and Katrina Zheltova at No. 1 to give the Maize and Blue the early edge in doubles. Sugiyama and Mahtani hold a 16-6 record at the top spot this season.
Sophomores Whitney Taney(Edina, Minn./Edina HS) and Rika Tatsuno(Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) closed out Clarisse Baca and Joyce Martinez by an 8-4 score at No. 2 to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. Taney and Tatsuno have dropped just five of their 20 dual matches this season.
Tatsuno carried the momentum over to singles play and made quick work of Maria Meliuk at No. 2, 6-0, 6-1, to put the Wolverines in front 2-0. The Hornets responded with a straight-set win at No. 6, but Muresan completed a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Valenzuela at No. 3 to give U-M a commanding 3-1 advantage. With the victory, Muresan achieved her second straight 20-win singles campaign (20-9).
Zheltova kept Sacramento State alive with a 6-4, 6-4 upset of 63rd-ranked Sugiyama at No. 1, but Mahtani ended any hopes of a Hornet comeback by securing a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Baca at No. 5. Mahtani has been victorious in eight of her last nine completed matches.
The Wolverines will meet No. 5-ranked Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA Championship tomorrow (Saturday, May 9) at 1 p.m. at the Courtney Tennis Center. The host Irish claimed a 4-0 win overIllinois-Chicago in first-round action this afternoon.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #84 Katrina Zheltova (SSU) d. #63 Chisako Sugiyama, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 -- #105 Rika Tatsuno (U-M) d. Maria Meliuk, 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 -- Denise Muresan (U-M) d. Melissa Valenzuela, 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 -- Whitney Taney (U-M) vs. Luba Schifris, 6-7(8), 2-3 (unfinished)
No. 5 -- Tania Mahtani (U-M) d. Clarisse Baca, 6-3, 7-6(4)
No. 6 -- Joyce Martinez (Sacramento State) d. Michelle Sulahian, 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- #42 Mahtani/Sugiyama (U-M) d. Valenzuela/Zheltova, 8-3
No. 2 -- Taney/Tatsuno (U-M) d. Baca/Martinez, 8-4
No. 3 -- Lindsey Howard/Muresan (U-M) vs. Meliuk/Aileen Tsan, 5-6 (unfinished)
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2, Singles 2-6-3-1-5
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 645-0045
Players Mentioned
