Michigan
Minnesota
Singles Play Pushes Michigan Past Minnesota
3/25/2022 9:08:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Minneapolis, Minn. (Baseline Tennis Center)
Result: Michigan 5, Minnesota 2
Records: U-M (9-4, 3-0 B1G), UMN (12-6, 1-4 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 27 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), Noon CT
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The University of Michigan women's tennis team turned three singles matches in first sets to take control of the action, eventually winning the final four matches on court in a 5-2 win over Minnesota on Friday (March 25) at the Baseline Tennis Center.
Minnesota took the early lead, winning the doubles point with victories at No. 3 followed by No. 2. Michigan's No. 1 duo of Jaedan Brown and Andrea Cerdan were victorious at No. 1, but the Gophers won both remaining matches for the 1-0 lead.
Brown tied the match at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 3. After breezing to the first-set win, Brown found herself in a 4-1 hole in the second. She responded by winning five straight games to wrap up the match and get Michigan on the scoreboard.
Michigan's lead was short lived, however, as Minnesota came away with a win at No. 4 to pull back ahead at 2-1.
Gala Mesochoritou tied the team match at 2-2 with a 7-5, 7-6 (5) win at No. 6. After rallying from an early deficit in the first, she tied the match at 5-5 and headed back to serve. She held on the deuce point for the 6-5 advantage, breaking Dalila Said in the next game for the first-set win. She was again in an early hole in the second before fighting back to tie the match at 4-4. Both players held the rest of the way to send it to a tiebreaker. Mesochoritou won the final two points to seal a 7-5 win for the match.
Julia Fliegner gave Michigan the lead with a 7-6, 7-6 win at No. 5. In the first set, Fliegner got the tiebreak win after falling in a 4-1 hole. The script was flipped in the second set as Flienger jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Anfisa Danilchenko won four of the next six games to force a breaker. In the tiebreaker, Fliegner outlasted Danilchenko in a 13-11 decision.
Kari Miller clinched the match behind a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (3) win at No. 1. After splitting the first two sets, Miller was down a break early in the second but got back on serve at 2-2. Both players held serve the rest of the way, with another set heading to a tiebreaker. Miller jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never looked back, putting Michigan's fourth point on the board.
Nicole Hammond finished off her match at No. 2, winning a 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 match. Hammond was down early in the first before rallying for a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker. She dropped the second set before racing out to a 5-0 lead in the third set en route to the win.
U-M is back in action on Sunday (March 27), traveling to Wisconsin to face the Badgers at noon CT.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 11 Kari Miller (U-M) d. Rachel Hanford (Minn), 6-2, 2-6, 7-6
No. 2 -- No. 102 Nicole Hammond (U-M) d. Emilee Duong (Minn), 7-6, 3-6, 6-1
No. 3 -- No. 73 Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. Maria Rizzolo (Minn), 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 -- Vasia Karvouni (Minn) d. No. 111 Andrea Cerdan (U-M), 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 -- Julia Fliegner (U-M) d. Anfisa Danilchenko (Minn), 7-6, 7-6
No. 6 -- Gala Mesochoritou (U-M) d. Dalila Said (Minn), 7-5, 7-6 (5)
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 74 Jaedan Brown/Andrea Cerdan (U-M) d. Emilee Duong/Maria Rizzolo (Minn), 6-2
No. 2 -- Dalila Said/Rachel Hanford (Minn) d. Anca Craciun/Nicole Hammond (U-M), 6-4
No. 3 -- Anfisa Danilchenko/Lucy Lu (Minn) d. Merri Kelly/Kari Miller (U-M), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2; Singles 3-4-6-5-1-2
Players Mentioned
