Michigan
Penn State
Wolverines Drop Penn State, One Win from Big Ten Title
4/19/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 19, 2013
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Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: #6 Michigan 5, Penn State 2
Records: U-M (18-4, 9-1 Big Ten), PSU (13-8, 3-7 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 21 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 11 a.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team completed its home portion of the regular season with a 5-2 win over Penn State on Friday afternoon (April 19) at the Varsity Tennis Center. With the victory, U-M finished 10-2 at the VTC this season and will go for its fourth straight Big Ten title on Sunday (April 21), playing at Ohio State at 11 a.m. With a win, Michigan will clinch a share of the title with Nebraska.
Today, Michigan took the doubles point by virtue of wins at No. 2 and No. 3. At No. 2, Michigan's pair of senior Mimi Nguyen (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) and sophomore Sarah Lee (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall) jumped out to a 4-1 lead en route to an 8-4 win.
Penn State evened the competition with a 9-8 win at No. 1 after winning the tiebreaker, 7-3. The teams traded breaks to start the match and stayed on serve throughout the rest of the match to head to a breaker. Michigan cut the PSU lead to 3-2, but the Nittany Lion pair scored four of the next five points to take the match.
With the match at No. 3 deciding the doubles point, Michigan's pair of freshman Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) and sophomore Kristen Dodge (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) broke early and had the opportunity to serve out the match with a 7-6 lead. PSU broke U-M for a 7-7 tie, before the Wolverines returned the favor on the ensuing game for another opportunity to serve out the match. Penn State broke again, as the teams entered a tiebreaker. The teams traded points until Michigan rattled off two straight points after a 5-5 tie for the 7-5 win to wrap up the doubles point.
Yurovsky took the first set 6-1 after dropping the first game and held a 4-2 lead in the second set when her opponent retired to push Michigan's lead to 2-0. Dodge followed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 6 as U-M's lead over Penn State swelled to 3-0.
PSU scored its first point of the match with a win at No. 4 to cut Michigan's lead to 3-1. Sophomore Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels) then clinched U-M's win with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win over No. 60-ranked Petra Januskova at the top position. Bektas broke to go up 4-3 and held on her ensuing serve for a 5-3 lead. The Wolverine sophomore then broke Januskova at love for the match.
With the team match in hand, junior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) came through with a two-set win at No. 3 for Michigan's fifth point of the day. Bolender won both sets in the tiebreaker, recovering from a 3-0 deficit in the first for a 7-5 win. In the second set breaker, Michigan's captain jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set breaker, hanging on for a 10-8 win for the match.
Penn State ended the match with a win at No. 5.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 26 Emina Bektas (U-M) d. No. 60 Petra Januskova (PSU), 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
No. 2 -- No. 50 Ronit Yurovsky (U-M) d. Chelsea Utting (PSU), 6-1, 4-2 retired
No. 3 -- Brooke Bolender (U-M) d. Jacqueline Zuhse (PSU), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8)
No. 4 -- Devan McCluskey (PSU) d. No. 104 Sarah Lee (U-M), 7-5, 6-1
No. 5 -- Carmen Sandor (PSU) d. Amy Zhu (U-M), 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (8)
No. 6 -- Kristen Dodge (U-M) d. Marie-Frederique Bedard (PSU), 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 30 Petra Januskova/Chelsea Utting (PSU) d. No. 3 Brooke Bolender/Emina Bektas (U-M), 9-8 (3)
No. 2 -- Mimi Nguyen/Sarah Lee (U-M) d. Carmen Sandor/Devan McCluskey (PSU), 8-4
No. 3 -- Ronit Yurovsky/Kristen Dodge (U-M) d. Marie-Frederique Bedard/Jacqueline Zuhse (PSU), 9-8 (5)
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3; Singles 2-6-4-1-3-5
N O T E S
• Michigan is now 14-0 when winning the doubles point.
• U-M leads the all-time series with Penn State, 24-3, and has won 12 in a row over the Nittany Lions.
• U-M finished the regular season with a 10-2 mark at the Varsity Tennis Center.
• Brooke Bolender and Ronit Yurovsky each ran their singles winning streak to five matches.
• Senior Mimi Nguyen was honored prior to today's match as part of Senior Day.
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
