Michigan
Wolverine Invitational
Sulahian, Critser Win Flights at Wolverine Invitational
10/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 3, 2010
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Event: Wolverine Invitational (Day 3 of 3)
Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Tue-Sun., Oct. 5-10 -- at ITA All-American Championships (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Time TBA
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior Michelle Sulahian (Valley Glen, Calif./Campbell Hall School) and freshman Sam Critser (Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View) of the University of Michigan women's tennis team won their respective flights on the final day of the Wolverine Invitational on Sunday (Oct. 3) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Sulahian won the blue flight, defeating Michigan State's Marina Rusakova (6-3, 6-1). Sulahian earned a first-round bye before picking up wins over Western Michigan's Rachel Denny (7-5, 6-2) and Olga Chernova of Michigan State (6-2, 6-3).
Critser won the battle of the Michigan teammates in the maize final with a 7-6, 7-6 (2) decision over sophomore Mimi Nguyen (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan). Critser recovered from a 4-0 deficit in the first set, winning in the tiebreaker (7-4). In the second, Nguyen broke Critser to tie it at 5-5, before both stayed on serve to force another tiebreaker. Critser jumped out to an early lead, coasting to a 7-2 decision in the breaker for the flight win.
In doubles action over the weekend, Michigan compiled a 7-2 record, with Nguyen and Critser both compiling 3-0 records.
The Wolverines will send a trio of representatives to the ITA All-American this week (Tue-Sun., Oct. 5- 10). Senior Denise Muresan (Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) will compete in the singles main draw, with the senior duo of Whitney Taney (Edina, Minn./Edina) and Rika Tatsuno (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) competing in the doubles main draw. In addition, Taney will compete in qualifying singles.
Michigan Head Coach Ronni Bernstein
On the weekend ... "We are happy with where we are. We have only had a few weeks of practice. I think overall that it was really good and that we competed really well. It was good to see the freshmen playing at a high level like they were all weekend. Obviously, they had a good tournament and are going to win a lot of matches for us. It is exciting to see where we are going."
On who stood out ... "A bunch of kids. It was a high-quality weekend. Sam (Critser), obviously, going through the draw was impressive. Mimi (Nguyen) had to play the two kids from our team, which is not an easy situation, but how she competed was really good. Michelle (Sulahian), going through her draw as well, she played well. Everyone, down the line, had a good weekend. We are deep this year and there is going to be a lot of people that can help us. That is exciting, and that is where you want to be right now. It makes our practices better because they are competing hard against each other. Hopefully, when we get to competition we will be ready to go because of that."
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
