Michigan
Northwestern
Michigan Atop League Standings After Knocking Off No. 7 Northwestern
3/7/2021 2:34:00 PM | Women's Tennis
» Michigan won its eighth straight match and recorded its second win over a top-10 opponent in as many weekends with a 5-2 win over No. 7 Northwestern.
» U-M won the doubles point and got singles wins from Chiara Lommer, Jaedan Brown, Kari Miller and Gala Mesochoritou.
» The Wolverines are now atop the Big Ten standings at 8-0 at the midway point of the conference season.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Result: Michigan 5, #7 Northwestern 2
Records: U-M (8-1, 8-0 B1G), NU (10-2, 7-1 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, March 13 -- at Rutgers (Piscatway, N.J.), 12:30 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's tennis team beat a top-10 team for the second straight weekend and ran its winning streak to eight with a 5-2 triumph over No. 7-ranked Northwestern Sunday afternoon (March 7) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
With the win, Michigan is atop the Big Ten Conference standings at 8-0 at the midway point of the season.
Michigan jumped out to the 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point with wins at No. 3 and No. 1.
At No. 3, freshman Kari Miller and sophomore Nicole Hammond came away with a 6-3 win as the first match off court. The middle of the match featured three straight breaks of serve before Michigan held for a 5-2 lead on Hammond's serve. NU followed suit in the next game, but that was all the room U-M needed to grab the 6-3 win.
Michigan fell in an early hole at No. 2, going down 4-0 before climbing back in the match by winning three straight games. The Wolverines could not get another break as NU held on for a 6-4 win.
U-M's No. 1 pair of freshman Jaedan Brown and graduate student Chiara Lommer held three break points with the match tied at 4-4. Brown cashed in on the overhead at the net, giving Michigan a 5-4 advantage. Lommer broke up the breaks in the next game, serving out the match at love for a 6-4 victory to put the first point on the board for the Maize and Blue.
Michigan took five first sets in singles action to take control of the match.
Northwestern got a point back with the first singles match off court, winning in straight sets at No. 4 to tie the team match at 1.
Michigan ripped off three straight wins after that to clinch the team match.
Brown recorded a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 5, using a well-timed break in the second set for the win. She fell in an early 2-0 hole but quickly rebounded by winning two straight games. Both players held over the next several games until Brown broke for a 6-5 lead when her opponent's forehand went long. Brown held her serve in the next game, wrapping up the match on her second match point with an ace up the T.
With Michigan back in front, 2-1, Lommer accounted for U-M's third point behind a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 2 against No. 57-ranked Julie Byrne. Lommer found herself in a 2-0 hole to start the match but chipped away before taking a 5-3 lead. Both players held over the next two games, helping Lommer to the 6-4 win.
The second set followed a similar script for Lommer, who was once again down a break early. She won four straight games to take control and eventually broke Byrne in the ninth game for a 6-3 victory.
Moments later, on the next court over, freshman Gala Mesochoritou headed to a second-set tiebreaker after winning the first. She held three match points at 6-3 in the breaker, but NU's Hannah McColgan fought off all of them.
At the same time, Miller was in the finishing stages of completing a second-set comeback at No. 1. She won the first set in a tiebreaker, racing out to a 3-0 lead en route to the 7-2 win. She was down 3-0 in the second set before going to work. She got the match back on serve at 4-4 and held for a 5-4 lead. She was able to keep the momentum going in the next game, breaking Maria Shusharina for the 7-6 (2), 6-4 win to put up U-M's fourth point.
The Wildcats got a point back at No. 2, winning in three sets.
Back on Mesochoritou's court, she played a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a full third set with the team match decided. She jumped out early to a 6-2 lead before hanging on for a 10-6 win, taking the final four points to account for U-M's fifth point.
U-M will be back on the road next weekend, first playing at Rutgers Saturday (March 13) at 12:30 p.m.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Kari Miller (U-M) d. Maria Shusharina (NU), 7-6 (2), 6-4
No. 2 -- Chiara Lommer (U-M) d. No. 57 Julie Byrne (NU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 -- Clarissa Hand (NU) d. No. 71 Andrea Cerdan (U-M), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 -- Briana Crowley (NU) d. No. 101 Alyvia Jones (U-M), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 -- Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. Caroline Pozo (NU), 6-1, 7-5
No. 6 -- Gala Mesochoritou (U-M) d. Hannah McColgan (NU), 6-4, 6-7 (8), 1-0 (6)
Doubles
No. 1 -- Chiara Lommer/Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. No. 47 Julie Byrne/Hannah McColgan (NU), 6-4
No. 2 -- Christina Hand/Briana Crowley (NU) d. Andrea Cerdan/Alyvia Jones (U-M), 6-4
No. 3 -- Kari Miller/Nicole Hammond (U-M) d. Maria Shusharina/Clarissa Hand (NU), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2-1, Singles 4-5-2-1-3-6
Players Mentioned
