Michigan
Pepperdine
Michigan Falls to Pepperdine in NCAA Quarters
5/17/2024 6:24:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Stillwater, Okla. (Greenwood Tennis Center)
Event: NCAA Tournament (Quarterfinals)
Score: #5 Pepperdine 4, #3 Michigan 1
Records: U-M (29-4), Pepperdine (21-6)
Next U-M Event: Mon-Sat, May 20-25 -- at NCAA Individual Championships (Stillwater, Okla.), TBA
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STILLWATER, Okla. -- The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team's season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, falling 4-1 to No. 5-ranked Pepperdine on Friday afternoon (May 17) at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
Michigan won a program-record 29 matches during the 2024 season, while winning the Big Ten championship and the Big Ten Tournament title.
Pepperdine, who Michigan knocked off 4-2 in Ann Arbor earlier this season, struck first by taking the doubles point.
In a match of top-10 teams at the top spot, the Waves went up a break at 2-1 and did not look back in the 6-2 win.
Michigan leveled the doubles ledger a few minutes later, with Lily Jones and Julia Fliegner combining for a 6-2 win at No. 3. After U-M was broken to start the match, Jones and Fliegner ripped off three straight games for a 3-1 lead. It was all Michigan from there as they wrapped up the 6-2 victory to keep U-M's hope for the doubles point alive.
With attention turning to the match at No. 2, Michigan was down a break and serving to stay in the match at 3-5. The Wolverines grabbed two game points at 40-30, but Pepperdine won the next two points to take the doubles point and the 1-0 lead.
Pepperdine took five first sets in singles action, with Piper Charney taking Michigan's lone set at No. 5 after Fliegner dropped a marathon 10-8 tiebreaker at No. 2.
Charney moved into solo second place on Michigan's single-season wins list, picking up her 37th singles win of the season in a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 86 Anna Campana at No. 5. Charney eased to the first-set win and went up 5-2 in the second set. She had a chance to serve it out in the next game, but Campana strung together a pair of games to trim Charney's lead to 5-4. In her second chance to serve out the match, Charney came through on the deuce point when Campana sent a forehand long to tie the team match at 1-1.
Gala Mesochoritou fought off a match point on the deuce point at 5-0 in the second set at No. 3, staying on court for two more games before falling in straight sets for a 2-1 Pepperdine lead.
Michigan was hanging around in the remaining matches on court, needing to turn them and force third sets to extend the match.
Lily Jones recovered from a 4-1 hole in the second set at No. 5 to get back on serve at 3-4. She could not hold her serve, with Pepperdine taking the next two games to wrap up a straight-set win and extend the Waves' lead to 3-1.
Kari Miller dropped her first set at No. 1 but started fast in the second set, winning the first two games and eventually taking a 4-1 lead. Pepperdine countered by winning six of the next seven games to clinch the 4-1 team win.
Michigan will have three players participating in the NCAA Singles Championship -- Miller, Mesochoritou and Fliegner -- and the team of Jaedan Brown and Miller playing in the doubles tournament. The singles championship starts on Monday (May 20) and the doubles tournament starts the following day (Tuesday, May 21).
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 39 Janice Tjen (Pepperdine) d. No. 5 Kari Miller (U-M), 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 -- No. 28 Julia Fliegner (U-M) vs. No. 15 Lisa Zaar (Pepperdine), 6-7 (8), 2-1 abandoned
No. 3 -- No. 12 Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine) d. No. 57 Gala Mesochoritou (U-M), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 -- Jaedan Brown (U-M) vs. No. 80 Nikki Redelijk (Pepperdine), 4-6, 3-4 abandoned
No. 5 -- No. 113 Piper Charney (U-M) d. No. 86 Anna Campana (Pepperdine), 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 -- Vivian Yang (Pepperdine) d. No. 78 Lily Jones (U-M), 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (Pepperdine) d. No. 9 Kari Miller/Jaedan Brown (U-M), 6-2
No. 2 -- Niki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (Pepperdine) d. Piper Charney/Reese Miller (U-M), 6-3
No. 3 -- Julia Fliegner/Lily Jones (U-M) d. Lisa Zaar/Anna Campana (Pepperdine), 6-2
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2; Singles 5-3-6-1
Players Mentioned
