Michigan
Illinois
Bottom of Lineup Propels Michigan Past Illinois in Big Ten Quarterfinal
4/30/2021 1:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis
» Michigan shut out Illinois for the second time this season, winning the doubles point and the first three singles matches off court.
» U-M got straight-set singles wins from the bottom of its lineup, with Andrea Cerdan (No. 4), Alyvia Jones (No. 5) and Bella Lorenzini (No. 6) recording wins.
» The Wolverines advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament to face either Northwestern or Minnesota tomorrow (Saturday, May 1).
Site: Madison, Wis. (Nielsen Tennis Stadium)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (Quarterfinals)
Result: #23 Michigan 4, Illinois 0
Records: U-M (16-2), Illinois (9-9)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 1 -- vs. Northwestern - Big Ten Tournament Semifinals (Madison, Wis.), 10 a.m. CDT
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won the doubles point and the first three singles matches off court in straight sets to shut out Illinois, 4-0, Friday morning (April 30) in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament at Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Michigan struck first, winning the doubles point behind victories at No. 1 and No. 2. In a new-look lineup, Michigan's top duo of senior Alyvia Jones and freshman Jaedan Brown cruised to a 6-1 win as the first match completed.
Illinois answered with a 6-3 win at No. 3, turning attention to the match at No. 2. Graduate student Chiara Lommer and freshman Kari Miller raced out to a 5-1 lead before Illinois took two straight games to trim the U-M advantage to 5-3. Miller and Lommer converted on their second attempt to serve out the match, winning on the deuce point to put the first point on the board for Michigan.
Michigan took five first sets in singles action, dropping the only one at No. 1.
Sophomore Andrea Cerdan pushed Michigan's lead to 2-0 behind a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4. Cerdan fell in a 3-0 hole in the second set but rebounded to win six of the next seven games to account for U-M's second point of the match.
Senior Bella Lorenzini put Michigan on the brink of taking the team match with a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 6, her second straight dual-match win. After breezing to the first-set win, Lorenzini trailed 5-4 in the second set after being broken. With Sasha Belaya back to the line to serve out the set, Lorenzini answered by winning the next three games to get the win in two and account for the Wolverines' third point.
Illinois countered by winning second sets at No. 2 and No. 3, while freshman Kari Miller won her second set at No. 1 as those three matches headed to third sets.
Jones took the drama out of it, winning her second-set tiebreaker to wrap up her match in two sets for U-M's fourth point. Much like Cerdan and Lorenzini, Jones mounted a comeback in the second after facing a 4-2 deficit. She slowly chipped away, eventually tying the set at 5. Both players held serve in the next games, sending the set to a breaker. It was all Jones in the tiebreaker, as she won the first four points and only dropped one point in the 7-1 win.
Michigan advances to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament with the win and will face No. 17 Northwestern tomorrow (May 1) at 10 a.m. CDT. Northwestern, seeded No. 3, was a 4-0 quarterfinal winner over No. 11 seed Minnesota.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 50 Kari Miller (U-M) vs. Asuka Kawai (Ill), 5-7, 6-4 abandoned
No. 2 -- Chiara Lommer (U-M) vs. Kate Duong (Ill), 6-4, 2-6, 1-1 abandoned
No. 3 -- Jaedan Brown (U-M) vs. Emilee Duong (Ill), 6-3, 4-6, 4-1
No. 4 -- Andrea Cerdan (U-M) d. Ashely Yeah (Ill), 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 -- Alyvia Jones (U-M) d. Josie Frazier (Ill), 6-2, 7-6 (1)
No. 6 -- Bella Lorenzini (U-M) d. Sasha Belaya (Ill), 6-1, 7-5
Doubles
No. 1 -- Jaedan Brown/Alyvia Jones (U-M) d. Sasha Belaya/Emilee Duong (Ill), 6-1
No. 2 -- Chiara Lommer/Kari Miller (U-M) d. Asuka Kawai/Josie Frazier (Ill), 6-3
No. 3 -- Ashley Yeah/Kate Duong (Ill) d. Nicole Hammond/Andrea Cerdan (U-M), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2, Singles 4-6-5
Players Mentioned
