Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines Win Big Ten, Knock off No. 7 Ohio State
4/16/2023 4:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: #6 Michigan 4, #7 Ohio State 1
Records: U-M (19-3, 11-0 B1G), OSU (16-6, 8-1 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sun., April 28-30 -- at Big Ten Tournament (West Lafayette, Ind.), TBA
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team captured the 11th Big Ten championship in program history and the 10th since 2010, knocking off No. 7-ranked Ohio State, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon (April 16) at the Varsity Tennis Center. The match began outside and was forced to move indoors after rain came through with four singles matches remaining as U-M held a 2-1 lead.
With Michigan needing two more points to capture the championship as the match moved indoors, Lily Jones was up 4-1 in her third set as the remaining three courts were either on serve or Ohio State up a break.
Jones wasted little time putting Michigan's third point on the board, winning two of the next three games in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4. Jones bounced back after dropping six straight games in the first set to force a third behind a 6-3 second-set win. In the third, she got the break she needed at 3-1 and did not look back even as the match moved indoors.
Julia Fliegner did the honors for Michigan a few minutes later, winning a 7-6 (9), 6-3 match at No. 3. She fought off multiple set points in the first-set tiebreaker, eventually winning 11-9. Fliegner was down 4-2 in the first set before hanging in to force the breaker. It was 2-2 and a deuce point on Lucia Marzal's serve when the match moved indoors, as she double faulted to give Fliegner the break. Marzal answered right back, keeping the set on serve at 3-3. It was all Fliegner from there as she ripped off three straight games, converting on her second match point to put Michigan's fourth point on the board.
Michigan took the doubles point by winning the final two matches to finish after Ohio State captured a 6-3 win at No. 2.
U-M's No. 3 pair of Merri Kelly and Kari Miller grabbed a 6-2 victory to even the doubles count. U-M got the break it needed at 2-1 when Ohio State double faulted on game point. The Wolverines kept it throughout, converting on several deuce points and breaking Ohio State again before wrapping up the 6-2 victory.
After Ohio State and Michigan exchanged breaks in the early going of the match at No. 1, the teams both held for a 4-4 match score when attention turned to their court as the deciding match. Andrea Cerdan held at love during her ensuing service game for a 5-4 Michigan advantage. Cerdan and Jaedan Brown carried that momentum over into the next game, again winning at love to give Michigan the 1-0 lead.
In singles action, Michigan took four first sets from the Buckeyes after Fliegner won her marathon first set.
Miller pushed Michigan's lead to 2-0 with a methodical 6-1, 6-3 win at the top spot. It was all Miller in the first set as she won the final five games in a 6-1 win. In the second set, she again raced out to an early lead before the set was tied at 3-3. Miller won the final three games for Michigan's second point.
Ohio State quickly closed the Michigan lead to 2-1 behind a straight-set win at No. 2.
The Buckeyes forced third sets at Nos. 5 and 6, with Jones doing the same at No. 4 before the rain came and forced the match inside at 2:30 p.m.
With the win, Michigan will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament (April 28-30) in West Lafayette, Ind. In addition, head coach Ronni Bernstein is the third women's tennis coach in Big Ten history to win at least 10 conference championships.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 47 Kari Miller (U-M) d. No. 35 Sydni Ratliff (OSU), 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 -- No. 22 Irina Cantos (OSU) d. No. 23 Jaedan Brown (U-M), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 -- No. 45 Julia Fliegner (U-M) d. Lucia Marzal (OSU), 7-6 (9), 6-3
No. 4 -- No. 67 Lily Jones (U-M) d. Isabelle Boulais (OSU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 -- Andrea Cerdan (U-M) vs. No. 90 Shelly Bereznyak (OSU), 6-1, 5-7, 2-4 abandoned
No. 6 -- Gala Mesochoritou (U-M) vs. Danielle Willson (OSU), 6-4, 4-6, 4-5 abandoned
Doubles
No. 1 -- Jaedan Brown/Andrea Cerdan (U-M) d. Danielle Willson/Kolie Allen (OSU), 6-4
No. 2 -- Shelly Bereznyak/Isabelle Boulais (OSU) d. Lily Jones/Julia Fliegner (U-M), 6-3
No. 3 -- Merri Kelly/Kari Miller (U-M) d. Irina Cantos/Lucia Marzal (OSU), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-3-1, Singles 1-2-4-3
Players Mentioned
