Michigan
Purdue
Wolverines Rally Past Purdue to Advance to B1G Championship
4/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 26, 2014
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Site: Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (Semifinals)
Score: #17 Michigan 4, Purdue 1
Records: U-M (21-3), PUR (12-10)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 27 -- vs. Northwestern - Big Ten Tournament championship (Evanston, Ill.), Noon CDT
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team recovered from dropping the doubles point by winning four straight singles matches in a 4-1 victory over Purdue in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday (April 26) at Northwestern's Combe Tennis Center. With the win, Michigan has advanced to its 10th straight tourney championship.
Michigan dropped the doubles point as Purdue won at both No. 1 and No. 2 for the match's first point. At No. 1, junior Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels) and senior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) were broken at 4-2 and never recovered in an 8-3 Purdue win.
At No. 2, sophomore Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) and freshman Laura Ucros (Bogota, Colombia/Fundación Nuevo Marymount) rallied from a 5-2 deficit to tie the match at 7-7 to head to a tiebreaker. The U-M pair jumped out to a 5-1 lead, before the Purdue duo stormed back to tie the breaker at 5-5. Michigan had two match points at 6-5 and 7-6 but could not convert on either one. Purdue scored the final three points of the tiebreaker, winning the contest on a Michigan double fault for the doubles points.
Michigan turned the tide in singles, jumping out to three-game leads in the first set on all six courts. Bektas and junior Sarah Lee (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall) each made quick work of their opponents in their respective first sets, each taking 6-1 wins within minutes of each other. Yurovsky followed with a 6-1 win of her own at No. 2, winning six straight games after dropping the first.
Bolender and sophomore Amy Zhu's (Newark, Del./Laurel Springs) followed with a pair of 6-2 victories in the first set as Michigan won five of six first sets.
Bektas was the first Wolverine off court, winning 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 after taking the final four games of the second set against Mara Schmidt to tie the team match at 1-1.
Lee followed Bektas with an identical 6-1, 6-2 score at No. 3, also breaking Nicole Robinson for the win. With Lee's triumph, Michigan took its first lead of the day at 2-1.
Zhu's 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5 pushed Michigan's lead to 3-1. Zhu rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the second to wrap up her 12th straight victory.
Bolender was down a break in the second set at 4-3 before breaking Krisztina Kapitany at love to get back on serve at 4-4. After a difficult hold of serve for Bolender, the Michigan captain broke Kapitany for a second straight time at love to clinch Michigan's win.
Michigan will take on No. 16 Northwestern tomorrow (Sunday, April 27) at noon.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 10 Emina Bektas (U-M) d. Mara Schmidt (PU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 -- No. 22 Ronit Yurovsky (U-M) vs. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (PU), 6-1, 4-6, 3-1 DNF
No. 3 -- No. 124 Sarah Lee (U-M) d. Nicole Robinson (PU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 -- Brooke Bolender (U-M) d. Krizstina Kapitany (PU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 -- No. 125 Amy Zhu (U-M) d. Andjela Djokovic (PU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 -- Laura Ucros (U-M) vs. Claudia Escribens (PU), 5-7, 4-1 DNF
Doubles
No. 1 -- Mara Schmidt/Andjela Djokovic (PU) d. No. 14 Emina Bektas/Brooke Bolender (U-M), 8-3
No. 2 -- Krizstina Kapitany/Natalia Davila (PU) d. Laura Ucros/Ronit Yurovsky (U-M), 8-7 (7)
No. 3 -- Amy Zhu/Sarah Lee (U-M) vs. Nicole Robinson/Claudia Escribens (PU), 7-5 DNF
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2, Singles 1-3-5-4
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (vanmetre@umich.edu)
Players Mentioned
