Michigan
Wisconsin
Michigan Defeats Wisconsin in Big Ten Quarterfinal
4/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 31 University of Michigan women's tennis team advanced to the Big Ten Conference Championship semifinals after defeating Wisconsin by a score of 4-1 Friday afternoon (April 28) at the Illini Grove Tennis Courts. The No. 3 seed Wolverines (15-6) earned a close doubles point and victories in three of the first four singles matches completed to clinch the quarterfinal victory over the No. 11 seed Badgers (6-18).
Michigan posted a pair of 8-6 wins at the bottom two doubles positions to clinch the first team point. Senior Nina Yaftali (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake HS) and freshman Lindsey Howard (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin HS) got things started with a victory over Kaylan Caiati and Erin Jobe at No. 3, while sophomore Allie Shafner (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) and freshman Chisako Sugiyama (Parsippany, N.J./The Monclair Kimberley Academy) secured the doubles point with a win over Chelsea Nusslock and Morgan Tuttle at No. 2.
Both of the winning Wolverine pairings have performed remarkably in the latter stages of the dual match season. Yaftali and Howard have been victorious in 11 of their last 15 matches, while Shafner and Sugiyama have won nine of their last 13.
U-M's No. 30-ranked tandem of senior Debra Streifler (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park HS) and junior Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) was in a tie with Caitlin Burke and Elizabeth Carpenter at 7-7 when the doubles point was decided.
Wisconsin got on the scoreboard with a victory at No. 1 singles, as the 34th-ranked Burke handed Delicata a 6-2, 6-0 loss. Streifler extended her winning streak to six matches, defeating Carpenter by a 6-3, 6-1 margin at No. 4 to give the Wolverines a 2-1 edge. Howard then put Michigan within one team point of moving to the next round, as she posted a convincing 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jobe at No. 6. Howard has been triumphant in six of nine matches at the bottom position this year.
Yaftali provided the clincher for the Maize and Blue, as she finished off Nusslock by a score of 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 for the fourth point. Yaftali has gone 6-3 since moving to the third position in late March.
Michigan had established leads on the two remaining singles courts when the match was decided. Sugiyama was within a game of finishing off Tuttle at No. 5 (6-2, 5-4), and Exon was up one set on Caiati at No. 2 (7-5, 1-0).
The Wolverines will meet No. 2 seed Iowa, a 4-0 winner over No. 10 seed Illinois earlier in the day, in the semifinals Saturday (April 29, 2 p.m. CDT) at the Atkins Tennis Center. Michigan dropped a 5-2 road decision to the Hawkeyes earlier this month (April 2).
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- #34 Caitlin Burke (UW) d. Kara Delicata, 6-2, 6-0
No. 2 -- Elizabeth Exon (U-M) led Kaylan Caiati, 7-5, 1-0 (abandoned)
No. 3 -- Nina Yaftali (U-M) d. Chelsea Nusslock, 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 -- Debra Streifler (U-M) d. Elizabeth Carpenter, 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 -- Chisako Sugiyama (U-M) led Morgan Tuttle, 6-2, 5-4 (abandoned)
No. 6 -- Lindsey Howard (U-M) d. Erin Jobe, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- #30 Delicata/Streifler (U-M) tied with Burke/Carpenter, 7-7 (abandoned)
No. 2 -- Allie Shafner/Sugiyama (U-M) d. Nusslock/Tuttle, 8-6
No. 3 -- Howard/Yaftali (U-M) d. Caiati/Jobe, 8-6
Order of Completion: Doubles 3-2, Singles 1-4-6-3
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Bitsy Ritt
On Michigan's performance against Wisconsin ... "It was a very competitive match, especially in doubles. I thought Wisconsin was much stronger than when we played them earlier in the season. Their lineup was definitely stronger with the addition of Caitlin Burke and they were also stronger at other positions. They made us work really hard in both singles and doubles; we really had to earn it today. While some of the scores were not as close, we still had to work hard in every match. I thought it was a great first match and hopefully it will give us a lot of confidence going into the semifinals against Iowa."
On getting the chance to face Iowa in the semifinals ... "We were very disappointed with our performance in Iowa City a few weeks ago. We talked back then about how there was a lot of tennis to be played and we hoped then that we would have an opportunity to play Iowa again in the Big Ten Championship. We have the chance that we want and we know that the pressure is on Iowa. We have a great opportunity to really put it all out there and see what we can do."
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
