Michigan Battles Back to Earn Big Road Win at Oregon

Saturday, February 3

Eugene, Ore.

10:00 AM PT

Michigan

Oregon

2/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

EUGENE, Ore. -- The No. 22-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season after earning a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 39-ranked Oregon Saturday (Feb. 3) at the Student Tennis Center. The Wolverines lost the doubles point but stayed focused, winning four of six in singles play to pull out the important non-conference road win.
 
After a close doubles competition, which saw the Ducks (4-1) win each of the three matches by a two-game margin, senior Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) provided a huge lift for her team by securing a quick win at No. 4 singles to tie the match at 1-1. Delicata's 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Anna Powaska was her fourth victory in a row.

An Oregon win on the No. 6 court put the home team ahead at 2-1, but graduate senior Jenny Kuehn (Leipzig, Germany/Sport Gymnasium Leipzig) stepped it up after a tight first set and closed out Dominika Dieskova at No. 1, 7-6(2), 6-1, to knot things up again. Sophomore Chisako Sugiyama (Parsippany, N.J./ The Montclair Kimberley Academy), the reigning Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Week for women's tennis, continued her early season dominance. She handed Ana Cecilia Olivos a 6-2, 6-4 loss at No. 2 to put the Maize and Blue in front for the first time in the match at 3-2. It was Sugiyama's fifth straight win and moved her overall record to a team-best 14-3.

Freshman Tania Mahtani (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS) provided the match-clinching win for Michigan, defeating Monica Hoz de Vila by a score of 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5. Mahtani also holds a five-match winning streak and stands at 11-6 overall in 2006-07.

Mahtani's win proved to be critical, as the Ducks closed out the match with a super-tiebreaker win at No. 3 to make the final score 4-3 in favor of the Maize and Blue.

The Wolverines return to action Sunday (Feb. 4) with a match at Washington. The contest against the Huskies is scheduled for an 11 a.m. PST start at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Wash.

Following are match-by-match results:

Singles
No. 1 -- #81 Jenny Kuehn (U-M) d. Dominika Dieskova, 7-6(2), 6-1
No. 2 -- Chisako Sugiyama (U-M) d. Ana Cecilia Olivos, 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 -- Carmen Seremeta (Oregon) d. Elizabeth Exon, 0-6, 6-2, 1-0(7) 
No. 4 -- Kara Delicata (U-M) d. Anna Powaska, 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 -- Tania Mahtani (U-M) d. Monica Hoz de Vila, 7-5, 6-1
No. 6 -- Claudia Hirt (Oregon) d. Allie Shafner, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 -- #28 Dieskova/Olivos (Oregon) d. Delicata/Sugiyama, 9-7
No. 2 -- Hirt/Seremeta (Oregon) d. Kuehn/Shafner, 9-7 
No. 3 -- Hoz de Vila/Powaska (Oregon) d. Exon/Mahtani, 8-6 

Order of Completion: Doubles 3-1-2, Singles, 4-6-1-2-5-3

Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423