Michigan
Indiana
Michigan Opens Big Ten Conference Play with Victory over Indiana
3/12/2022 2:34:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Result: Michigan 4, Indiana 1
Records: U-M (6-4, 1-0 B1G), IU (7-6, 0-1 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 13 -- vs. Columbia (Varsity Tennis Center), Noon
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's tennis team started off its Big Ten Conference schedule with a 4-1 win over Indiana Saturday afternoon (March 12) at the Varsity Tennis Center. U-M won the doubles point and three of the first four singles matches off court to get the win.
Michigan grabbed the early lead, courtesy of a pair of a 6-2 wins at No. 1 and No. 3 in doubles action.
U-M's No. 1 pair of Andrea Cerdan and Jaedan Brown jumped out to a 2-0 lead but was broken in the next game when a lob shot went over the head of Cerdan. That ignited a run of four straight breaks for the teams until Michigan held in the seventh game for a 5-2 lead. The Wolverines closed it out in the next game, breaking Indiana again for the 6-2 win.
It was a race to the finish from there as U-M was on the verge of winning at both No. 2 (up 5-4) and No. 3 (up 5-2). It was Michigan's No. 3 pair of Kari Miller and Merri Kelly that came through first as they broke for the 6-2 win on their first match point. Miller and Kelly were broken to start the match but won four straight games to take control.
U-M won five first sets in singles action.
Kelly accounted for Michigan's second point of the afternoon, getting a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6 in her first dual-match singles action of the season. Kelly got the break she needed at 3-1 in the first set and dropped just one more game in a 6-2 win. It was all Michigan in the second as she converted on her first match point of the afternoon in the 6-0 win.
Brown ran her singles winning streak to five with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 2, extending Michigan's lead to 3-0. She raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and never looked back. It was much of the same in the second as she won the first two games and took a 5-1 lead. After Indiana held serve, Brown served out the match in the ensuing game to move the Wolverines within a point of the team win.
Indiana got on the board with a straight-set win at No. 3, with Michigan on the verge of victories at No. 1 and No. 4.
Nicole Hammond did the honors at No. 4, winning 6-4, 6-1 for the deciding point. Hammond was in a hole early in the first set at 3-1 before gradually getting back in the match by winning three straight games. She only dropped one game the rest of the way in the set, getting the 6-4 win. She flipped the script in the second set, getting an early break and never looking back in the 6-1 win to end the match.
Michigan will be back in action tomorrow (Sunday, March 13), hosting Columbia to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule. The match is set for noon, with a friendly reminder to fans that the time change (spring forward) is happening overnight.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 13 Kari Miller (U-M) vs. Lara Schenider (IU), 6-1, 4-2 abandoned
No. 2 -- No. 61 Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. Laura Masic (IU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 -- Alexandra Staiculescu (IU) d. No. 76 Andrea Cerdan (U-M), 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 -- No. 93 Nicole Hammond (U-M) d. Rose Hu (IU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 -- Julia Fliegner (U-M) vs. Mila Mejic (IU), 6-3, 3-6 abandoned
No. 6 -- Merri Kelly (U-M) d. Sayda Hernandez (IU), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 -- Jaedan Brown/Andrea Cerdan (U-M) d. Laura Masic/Lara Schneider (IU), 6-2
No. 2 -- Anca Craciun/Nicole Hammond (U-M) vs. Alexandra Staiculescu/Mila Mejic (IU), 5-4 abandoned
No. 3 -- Merri Kelly/Kari Miller (U-M) d. Lexi Kubas/Rose Hu (IU), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3, Singles 6-2-3-4
Players Mentioned
