Michigan
NCAA Individual Championships
Sugiyama Triumphant in First Round of NCAA Singles Event
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Site: Tulsa, Okla. (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Event: NCAA Singles Championship (First Round)
Score: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Match: Thursday, May 22 -- Day 2 at NCAA Singles Championship (Tulsa, Okla.), 1:30 p.m. CDT
TULSA, Okla. -- Junior Chisako Sugiyama(Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy) of the No. 19-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team opened the 2008 NCAA Singles Championship with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Georgia Tech's No. 38-ranked Maya Johansson Wednesday afternoon (May 21) at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Sugiyama became the fifth Wolverine to claim a first-round win at the 64-player national tournament.
The 50th-ranked Sugiyama found her rhythm early in her NCAA singles debut, using a break in the fourth game to jump out to a 3-1 lead. Sugiyama then took care of her three remaining service games to wrap up the first set. It was a back-and-forth affair in the second set, with Sugiyama building a 4-1 advantage before Johansson earned back-to-back breaks to tie the score at 4-4. Sugiyama picked up a break of her own and then served out the match to clinch her seventh victory over a nationally ranked opponent this year. She became the first U-M player to advance to the second round since Michelle DaCosta (2002-05) in 2004.
Today's win moved Sugiyama's overall singles record to a team-best 27-11. Her 27 victories place her in a seven-way tie for sixth place on Michigan's all-time season singles wins chart. She already holds down record-book entries in the third (30-6 in 2006-07) and sixth (27-10 in 2005-06) spots.
Sugiyama will meet Northwestern's No. 5-ranked Maria Mosolova in the second round Thursday (May 22) at 1:30 p.m. CDT. Mosolova was a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 first-round winner over Arizona State's No. 26-ranked Kelcy McKenna.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
