Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines Shut Out Buckeyes for Sixth Straight Victory
4/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 9, 2011
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Result: #10 Michigan 7, Ohio State 0
Records: U-M (16-3, 6-0 Big Ten), Ohio State (10-9, 3-2 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Sunday, April 10 -- vs. Penn State (Varsity Tennis Center), 11 a.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Playing outdoors for the first time at home this season, the No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won a tight doubles point before prevailing on all six singles courts for a 7-0 win over Ohio State on Saturday afternoon (April 9) at the Varsity Tennis Center. With the triumph, U-M extended its win streak to six matches.
Michigan won a hard-fought doubles point, winning at No. 1 and No. 2 to take the early lead. Michigan's No. 2 duo of seniors Whitney Taney (Edina, Minn./Edina) and Rika Tatsuno (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) raced out to a 7-2 lead to win the first doubles match off court, 8-4.
U-M's No. 1 pairing of senior Denise Muresan (Lincolnshire, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) and freshman Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) were broken to fall behind 6-4 but ripped off four consecutive games to clinch the point with an 8-6 victory over Cami Hubbs and Kelsey Haviland. Ohio State won the remaining doubles match, taking an 8-5 victory at No. 3.
U-M kept it rolling in singles play, winning five-of-six first sets. Junior Michelle Sulahian (Valley Glen, Calif./Campbell Hall) was first off court with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Noelle Malley at No. 6 to push the Michigan lead to 2-0. The next two matches ended within moments of each other, with Bolender prevailing at No. 2 (6-1, 6-2) to put Michigan on the brink of the win. Muresan clinched it seconds later, delivering a 6-0, 6-1 win over Kelsey Haviland at No. 1.
The Wolverines continued to stay perfect on the singles court when Taney came away with a straight-set decision (6-1, 6-4) over Kara Cecil at No. 3. The final two matches on court went to three sets, with both Wolverines pulling out 10-point tiebreak wins to keep the Buckeyes off the board. Freshman Sam Critser (Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View) won her first set, 6-2, before dropping the second, 7-5. She raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker and did not look back for a 10-3 win to take the match.
Tatsuno rounded out Michigan's singles wins with a 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6) triumph at No. 5. Tatsuno battled back for the second-set win, and much like Critser, jumped out to an early advantage in the 10-point tiebreaker to keep Michigan perfect on the day.
The Wolverines wrap up weekend play at home tomorrow (Sunday, April 10), welcoming Penn State for an 11 a.m. match.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 7 Denise Muresan (U-M) d. Kelsey Haviland (OSU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 -- No. 73 Brooke Bolender (U-M) d. Gabby Steele (OSU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 -- No. 98 Whitney Taney (U-M) d. Kara Cecil (OSU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 -- No. 69 Sam Critser (U-M) d. Fidan Manashirova (OSU), 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (3)
No. 5 -- Rika Tatsuno (U-M) d. Cami Hubbs (OSU), 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6)
No. 6 -- Michelle Sulahian (U-M) d. Noelle Malley (OSU), 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 8 Brooke Bolender/Denise Muresan (U-M) d. Kelsey Haviland/Cami Hubbs (OSU), 8-6
No. 2 -- Whitney Taney/Rika Tatsuno (U-M) d. Kara Cecil/Noelle Malley (OSU), 8-4
No. 3 -- Gabby Steele/Fidan Manashirova (OSU) d. Michelle Sulahian/Sam Critser (U-M), 8-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 6-2-1-3-4-5
N O T E S
• Brooke Bolender won her 29th match of the season, which is the most wins ever by a freshman.
• Michigan evens its record to 2-2 in outdoor matches.
• With the win, Michigan improves to 10-0 at the Varsity Tennis Center this season.
• U-M improves to 36-13 all-time against Ohio State and has won the past nine matches against the Buckeyes.
• Denise Muresan (6-0), Brooke Bolender (6-0), Whitney Taney (6-0), Rika Tatsuno (4-0) and Michelle Sulahian (3-0) all remain perfect in Big Ten action.
• Brooke Bolender (12), Rika Tatsuno (11) and Whitney Taney (10) all kept their win streaks intact.
• Ronni Bernstein is now 34-2 in Big Ten conference action.
• Michigan has outscored its six Big Ten opponents, 40-2.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Ronni Bernstein
On winning the doubles point ... "Ohio State always has really good doubles. They are aggressive and play basic, which means they make good decisions. I knew it was going to be a tough point. Even though they lost, I thought Sam (Critser) and Michelle (Sulahian) played well today. They stayed out there even though they fell behind 4-0 at the beginning. It was important for them to be out there the rest of the point and take some pressure off everyone else. I was happy with how they fought back and got back into that match. Denise (Muresan) and Brooke (Bolender) played tough. I don't know if that was their best match, but they came back after being down 6-4 to win the point for us.
Winning the point was big, because we didn't want to let them into the match. If they had won that point, it could put a little more pressure on us heading into singles. I was glad we were able to fight back and win that point after it looked like we were not going to."
On the singles play ... "Michelle (Sulahian) got off fast, which is what she does for us. We won those first few matches pretty quickly. Ohio State is a good team and putting the match away as quickly as we did was great to see. It was nice that Sam (Critser) and Rika (Tatsuno) were able to grind out those two matches at the end. We have been talking about a total team effort, and I think we got that again today. Anytime you can beat a good team like Ohio State, 7-0, it is a good day."
On playing outdoors ... "It was good for us to get outdoors today and even nicer because it was at home. It was important because this is where we need to be comfortable playing in May. After talking to the girls afterwards, they felt really good out there. I was pleased and happy with our fans for coming out here today. We had a great crowd even though they couldn't have been that comfortable out there in the cold. They definitely helped us out."
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
