Michigan
Georgia Tech
Michigan's Comeback Falls Short to No. 7 Georgia Tech
2/9/2018 8:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis
» After falling behind, 2-0, Michigan tied the match at 2 behind singles wins from Mira Ruder-Hook and Chiara Lommer. The Yellow Jackets won the next two matches off court to take the 4-2 win.
» Junior Brienne Minor made her return to the singles lineup, playing at No. 3.
» Michigan is making its ninth straight appearance at the ITA National Indoor Championship.
Site: Madison, Wis. (Nielsen Tennis Center)
Score: #7 Georgia Tech 4, #10 Michigan 2
Records: U-M (3-2), GT (5-0)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 10 -- at ITA National Team Indoor Championship (Madison, Wis.), TBA
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the match at 2 before dropping the next to singles matches as No. 7 Georgia Tech took a 4-2 win in the opening round of the ITA National Indoor Team Championship on Friday (Feb. 9) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
GT took the doubles point for the early 1-0 lead, winning at Nos. 2 and 3. After Michigan dropped a 6-1 decision at No. 2, both No. 3 and No. 1 were on serve in their matches. U-M's No. 3 pair of Chiara Lommer and Lera Patiuk went back to serve at 4-3, but were broken in that game en route to a 6-3 Georgia Tech win for the doubles point.
Georgia Tech extended its lead to 2-0 with a straight-sets win at No. 6 to begin singles action.
Michigan's comeback began with a 6-2, 6-3 win for sophomore Lommer at No. 2, who avenged a loss to Johnnise Renaud at last month's Michigan Invitational. Lommer jumped out to early leads in both sets to halve the Michigan deficit.
U-M stormed back to tie the match at 2 after another straight-sets win, this time coming from senior Mira Ruder-Hook at No. 4. Ruder-Hook took control early in both sets, racing out to a 4-2 lead in the second to put Michigan's second point on the board.
In the remaining three matches on court, senior Alex Najarian split her two sets at No. 5 to head to a third. At No. 1, junior Kate Fahey won the first set before dropping the second and classmate Brienne Minor was on serve in the second after dropping her first set in the tiebreaker.
Minor, in her return to the singles lineup, held a 5-2 lead in the first set before heading to a tiebreaker at 6-all. The breaker was tied at 6, but GT won the final two points to take the first. Minor went up a break early in the third but could not hold it, as the Yellow Jackets picked up a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win for their third point.
At No. 5, Najarian fell in a 3-0 hole in the third set and battled back. She had two break points down 4-3 but Nami Otsuka won the final two points to hold onto the break at 5-3. Najarian was broken in the next game as Georgia Tech wrapped up a 4-2 win.
Fahey's match was abandoned on serve in the third set.
Michigan will play two more consolation matches at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Saturday (Feb. 10).
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 33 Kate Fahey (U-M) vs. No. 24 Paige Hourigan (GT), 7-5, 2-6, 2-3 abandoned
No. 2 -- No. 74 Chiara Lommer (U-M) d. Johnnise Renaud (GT), 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 -- No. 58 Ida Jarlskog (GT) d. Brienne Minor (U-M), 7-6 (6), 6-4
No. 4 -- Mira Ruder-Hook (U-M) d. Victoria Flores (GT), 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 -- Nami Otsuka (GT) d. Alex Najarian (U-M), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
No. 6 -- Kenya Jones (GT) d. Bella Lorenzini (U-M), 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- Kate Fahey/Alex Najarian (U-M) vs. No.3 Paige Hourigan/Kenya Jones (GT),
No. 2 -- No. 55 Ida Jarlskog/Johnnise Renaud (GT) d. Mira Ruder-Hook/Kara Hall (U-M), 6-1
No. 3 -- Victoria Flores/Nami Otsuka (GT) d. Chiara Lommer/Lera Patiuk (U-M), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-3; Singles 6-2-4-3-5
Players Mentioned
