Michigan
ITA Midwest Regional Main Draw
Sugiyama Reaches Singles Semis at Midwest Regional
10/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Event: Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships
Scoring: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Match: Friday, Nov. 3 -- Thunderbird Invitational (Tempe, Ariz.)
Sugiyama Reaches Singles Semis at Midwest Regional
Event Recap| Complete Results| Quotes
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Sophomore Chisako Sugiyama (Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy) led a contingent of six University of Michigan women's tennis players in the main draw of the 2006 Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships, held Friday through Monday (Oct. 20-23) at Michigan State's Indoor Tennis Facility. Sugiyama won four straight matches en route to a semifinal finish in singles play and teamed with senior Jenny Kuehn (Leipzig, Germany/Sportgymnasium Leipzig) to reach the semifinal round in the doubles competition.
Sugiyama's performance marks Michigan's best singles finish at the regional tournament since 1998, when Danielle Lund (1997-2000) reached the championship match. Sugiyama and Kuehn's finish marks Michigan's second appearance in the regional doubles semifinals in three years, with then sophomore Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) and Michelle DaCosta (2002-05) reaching the semifinals in 2004.
Sugiyama knocked off three straight Big Ten Conference foes to reach the quarterfinals. After handily defeating Illinois' Momei Qu by a score of 6-2, 6-0, Sugiyama posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 92-ranked Mallory Voelker of Purdue. Minnesota's Ida Malmberg was the next victim, falling 6-0, 6-1 to allow Sugiyama to advance to the quarterfinals. Sugiyama kept on rolling, earning a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Eastern Michigan's Vanessa Frankowski. Notre Dame's Cosmina Ciobanu ended Sugiyama's quest at the title, claiming a 6-2, 6-3 win to move on to the championship match.
Sugiyama, who captured the singles crown at last month's Wolverine Invitational (Sept. 29-Oct. 1), holds a team-best 8-2 singles record this fall. She had won eight consecutive matches, all in straight sets, before her loss to Ciobanu today.
Competing together for the first time, Kuehn and Sugiyama fell points shy of reaching the championship match of the 64-team doubles draw. After dominating victories over teams from Bowling Green (8-2), Minnesota (8-3) and Iowa (8-2), the Wolverine tandem slipped past Notre Dame's Katie Potts and Colleen Rielly by an 8-6 margin to advance to the semifinal round. Kuehn and Sugiyama's title run ended there, as the Fighting Irish's No. 27-ranked pairing of Brook Buck and Kelcy Tefft came out on top in a tiebreaker, 9-8(3).
Kuehn and Delicata both picked up first-round victories in the 64-player singles draw. The 100th-ranked Kuehn stormed back to beat Western Michigan's Carrie Jeanmaire, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, before exiting the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Ciobanu. Delicata defeated Purdue's Cigdem Duru by a score of 6-3, 7-6(0) before falling to eventual semifinalist Megan Fudge of Illinois (6-0, 6-3).
The Wolverines will close out the 2006 fall season at the Thunderbird Invitational, to be held Nov. 3-5 at Arizona State's Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
