Michigan
Virginia
Michigan Falls at Virginia After Quick Start
2/16/2018 9:22:00 PM | Women's Tennis
» Michigan won the doubles point after wins at Nos. 2 and 3 to jump out to the early 1-0 lead.
» The Wolverines won three first sets, but Virginia won the first three singles matches off court to take control of the match.
» Kate Fahey picked up Michigan's lone singles win of the day, taking a three-set win at No. 1.
Site: Charlottesville, Va. (Boar's Head Country Club)
Score: Virginia 4, #14 Michigan 2
Records: U-M (4-4), UVA (4-2)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Feb. 18 -- at North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.), 11 a.m.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The No. 14-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won the doubles point but Virginia won the first three singles matches off court to take control of the match, grabbing a 4-2 win over U-M on Friday (Feb. 16) at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
U-M grabbed the early lead by virtue of the doubles point, getting wins at Nos. 2 and 3.
Michigan's No. 2 pair of junior Brienne Minor and senior Mira Ruder-Hook fell in a 2-0 hole to start the match before winning six of the last seven games to take a 6-3 win as the first match off court.
U-M's No. 3 duo of sophomores Chiara Lommer and Lera Patiuk were not far behind, wrapping up a 6-2 win moments later to clinch the first point of the match. Lommer and Patiuk jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the match and never looked back.
The Wolverines won three first sets in singles action, getting wins at No. 1 from junior Kate Fahey, at No. 2 from Lommer and at No. 5 from senior Alex Najarian.
Virginia quickly got on the board with straight-sets wins at No. 4 and No. 6 to take a 2-1 lead. The Cavaliers extended their lead to 3-1 with a three-set win at No. 3. Minor, in just her fourth singles match of the season, won on a deuce point in the second set to force a third. She fell in an early 2-0 hole before climbing back in the match at 4-3. She lost the next game, dropping a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision.
Fahey notched Michigan's lone singles win of the day, winning in three sets at No. 1. She breezed to a 6-2 win in the first set before dropping the second, 6-3. At 4-3 in the third and final set, Fahey won on a deuce point to take control at 5-3. She won the next game, sealing the three-set win.
At No. 5, Najarian found herself in a 5-3 hole in the second before storming back to send the match to a tiebreaker. The breaker was tied at 6, but Najarian lost the next two points to send her match to a third set.
Lommer took the an early lead at No. 2, racing out to a 5-2 lead in the breaker en route to winning the first set. She fell behind early in the second before falling, 6-2. In the third and final set, Lommer dropped the first two games before halving the deficit at 2-1. It was all Virginia from there as Cassie Mercer won the next four games to clinch the match for Virginia.
Najarian was tied at 4 in the final set when her match was abandoned.
Michigan completes a two-match ACC road swing on Sunday (Feb. 18), traveling to No. 1 North Carolina. The match is set for 11 a.m.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 29 Kate Fahey (U-M) d. Meghan Kelley (UVA), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
No. 2 -- Cassie Mercer (UVA) d. No. 56 Chiara Lommer (U-M), 6-7, 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 -- Chelsea Gullickson (UVA) d. Brienne Minor (U-M), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
No. 4 -- Teodora Radosavljevic (UVA) d. Mira Ruder-Hook (U-M), 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 -- Alex Najarian (U-M) vs. Erica Susi (UVA), 6-2, 6-7, 4-4 abandoned
No. 6 -- Hunter Bleser (UVA) d. Bella Lorenzini (U-M), 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- Kate Fahey/Alex Najarian (U-M) vs. Chelsea Gullickson/Meghan Kelley (UVA), 5-3 abandoned
No. 2 -- Mira Ruder-Hook/Brienne Minor (U-M) d. Cassie Mercer/Teodora Radosavljevic (UVA), 6-3
No. 3 -- Chiara Lommer/Lera Patiuk (U-M) d. Hunter Bleser/Erica Susi (UVA), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-3; Singles 4-6-3-1-2
Players Mentioned
