Michigan
NCAA Individual Championships
Fahey Falls in First Round of NCAA Singles Championship
5/23/2018 3:53:00 PM | Women's Tennis
» Junior Kate Fahey dropped a three-set match to No. 3-ranked Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship.
» Fahey and Perez-Somarriba also met in last year's tournament in the quarterfinals.
» Fahey, who entered the tournament ranked No. 29, concludes her junior season with a 27-9 singles record. She lost just four singles matches in the 2018 calendar year.
Site: Winston-Salem, N.C. (Leighton Family Courts)
Event: NCAA Singles Championship (First Round)
Score: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Season Complete
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Junior Kate Fahey of the University of Michigan women's tennis team dropped a three-set decision (6-3, 3-6, 6-1) to No. 3-ranked Estela Perez-Somarriba on Wednesday afternoon (May 23) at Wake Forest's Leighton Family Courts. The two also met in the quarterfinals of last year's tournament.
The pair traded three straight breaks of serve to start the match before Perez-Somarriba held in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Fahey held her serve for the first time in the next game and broke Perez-Somarriba at love to erase the deficit and knot the set at three games each. The trend of breaking serve continued in the next game as Fahey could not hold, giving Perez-Somarriba a 4-3 advantage. Perez-Somarriba won the final two games to take the first, 6-3.
Fahey made good on a deuce point in the opening game of the second set to grab the early break, igniting a three-game run for the Wolverine and a 3-0 lead. Perez-Somarriba won the next two games, but Fahey held at love to keep her break and extend her advantage to 4-2. Fahey won the next game and headed back to serve out the set at 5-2, but was broken. Fahey won the final four points of the next game after falling in a 40-0 hole to break Perez-Somarriba and seal a 6-3 second-set win.
Fahey was broken to start the third set and lost the first five games before breaking Perez-Somarriba to get on the board at 5-1. Fahey fought off two match points on her serve in the next game but could not win the deuce point as Perez-Somarriba wrapped up the three-set win.
Fahey, who entered the tournament ranked No. 29 and was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Year, finishes her junior season with a 27-9 singles record. She dropped just four matches in the 2018 calendar year and is eight victories away from becoming the eighth Wolverine in school history with 100 singles wins.
Michigan's 2017-18 season is now completed. U-M won the 2018 Big Ten Tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA Singles Championship
First Round (May 23)
No. 3 Estela Perez-Somarriba (Miami) d. No. 29 Kate Fahey (U-M), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Players Mentioned
