Michigan
Virginia
Singles Play Seals Top-Five Road Win for Michigan
2/1/2025 2:22:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Charlottesville, Va. (Boar's Head Sports Club)
Score: #7 Michigan 4, #5 Virginia 2
Records: U-M (3-0), UVA (7-0)
Next U-M Event: Tuesday, Feb. 4 -- vs. Florida (Varsity Tennis Center), 5 p.m.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team rallied after dropping the doubles point, winning four singles matches to seal a 4-2 win at No. 5-ranked Virginia on Saturday (Feb. 1) at the Boar's Head Sports Club. It marked Michigan's fifth straight win over the Cavaliers.
Virginia took the early lead, winning the doubles point behind wins at No. 3 and No. 2. Michigan tried to hang in there as the No. 1 pair of Jessica Bernales and Piper Charney fought off a pair of match points to tie the match at 5-5. With Michigan at 5-5 at No. 2 at the same time, Virginia won the next two games in a 7-5 win to clinch the doubles point.
U-M wasted no time taking control in singles, with Julia Fliegner, Reese Miller and Emily Sartz-Lunde all racing out to 4-0 leads.
Fliegner quickly pulled the Wolverines even at 1-1 in the team match, not surrendering a game in a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2. Miller was right behind, pushing the Maize and Blue ahead at 2-1 with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over No. 59 Melodie Collard at No. 5.
Virginia answered with a win at No. 3, once again tying the team match at 2-2.
With matches at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6 left on court, Michigan needed to win two of them. Playing at No. 1 for the first time in her career, Charney dropped a first-set tiebreaker, 11-9, with Michigan winning first sets at the two remaining spots.
It was a pair of freshmen who delivered for the Maize and Blue, with Bernales and Sartz-Lunde putting the final two points on the board. Bernales put point No. 3 up, getting a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6 over No. 94 Martina Genis Salas. In the second set, Bernales went up a break at 4-3 and consolidated it in the ensuing game. She once again broke Genis Salas, this time for the match to give Michigan the lead for good.
At the same time, Sartz-Lunde took a 4-1 lead in the third set at No. 4. After both players held serve over the next two games, the Michigan freshman went back to serve out the match. She jumped out to a 40-0 lead before UVA fought off three match points to get to the deuce point. Sartz-Lunde took control of the point early on, stepping up and ripping a forehand winner to seal the Michigan win.
Michigan will return home on Tuesday (Feb. 4), hosting Florida at 5 p.m. Admission to the Varsity Tennis Center is free and the first 100 fans will receive a foam finger.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 18 Piper Charney (U-M) vs. No. 34 Elaine Chervinsky (Virginia), 6-7 (9), 5-3 abandoned
No. 2 -- No. 5 Julia Fliegner (U-M) d. Karolina Kozakova (Virginia), 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 -- Sara Ziodato (Virginia) d. No. 40 Lily Jones (U-M), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 -- Emily Sartz-Lunde (U-M) d. Isabelle Lacy (Virginia), 6-2, 0-6, 6-2
No. 5 -- Reese Miller (U-M) d. No. 59 Melodie Collard (Virginia), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 -- Jessica Bernales (U-M) d. No. 94 Martina Genis Salas (Virginia), 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- Piper Charney/Jessica Bernales (U-M) vs. No. 2 Elaine Chervinsky/Melanie Collard (Virginia), 6-5 abandoned
No. 2 -- No. 27 Annabelle Xu/Martina Genis Salas (Virginia) d. No. 49 Reese Miller/Julia Fliegner (U-M), 7-5
No. 3 -- Sara Ziodato/Meggie Navarro (Virginia) d. Lily Jones/Emily Sartz-Lunde (U-M), 6-0
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2; Singles 2-5-6-4
Players Mentioned
