Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines Drop Heartbreaker at No. 8 Ohio State
4/1/2022 8:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Columbus, Ohio (Ty Tucker Tennis Center)
Result: #8 Ohio State 4, #19 Michigan 3
Records: U-M (10-5, 4-1 B1G), OSU (11-4, 4-0 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 3 -- at Penn State (State College, Pa.), 11 a.m.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team grabbed a 3-2 lead after being down 2-0, but No. 8-ranked Ohio State won the remaining two matches in third sets as U-M fell, 4-3, to OSU Friday evening (April 1) at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
Ohio State took the doubles point and won a straight-set match at No. 2 singles before Michigan mounted a comeback.
Kari Miller put Michigan's first point on the board behind a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win in the top spot over No. 26 Isabelle Boulais. Miller fell victim to a late break in the first set but responded nicely in the second set with a 6-0 win. She won the first three games of the third set and that was all the space she needed to get the victory and halve the Ohio State lead, 2-1.
Jaedan Brown tied the team match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 3. After breezing to a first-set win, Brown raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second. Kolie Allen countered with five straight games, forcing a third set. Brown was broken to start the final set but won three straight games for a 3-1 lead. Allen got a break back in the next game but Brown won the final three to tie the team match.
Michigan nudged ahead in the team match for the first time behind a 6-4, 7-6 (8) win from Gala Mesochoritou at No. 6. She fell behind a break early in the first set but came back with three straight games for a 3-1 lead. She led 5-2 before Madeline Atway won two straight for a 5-4 U-M lead. Mesochoritou came through in the next game to take control of the match. The second set felt a lot like the first as Mesochoritou fought back from an early break for a 5-3 lead. Once again, she could not close it out as the set eventually went to a tiebreaker. After falling behind 6-4, Mesochoritou took the next four points for an 8-6 win.
With Michigan holding a 3-2 lead, the remaining matches at No. 4 and No. 5 were in third sets after both Andrea Cerdan and Julia Fliegner won second sets to stay on court.
Fliegner went up a break early in her third set at No. 5, with Cerdan facing a 3-1 deficit. Cerdan responded by winning three straight games, including a run off 11 straight points, for a 4-3 lead on serve. Sydni Ratliff went back to serve with Cerdan jumping out to a 40-15 lead in the game, but she could not get the break as Ratliff tied the set at 4-4 with three straight points.
Fliegner's set got back on serve at 4-4 at the same time, with Lucia Marzal holding her serve at 5-4.
Cerdan was broken in her next service game, giving Ratliff a chance to serve out the match in the ensuing game. While she was serving, Fliegner was broken in the final game as Ohio State put a third point on the board.
Ratliff had a pair of match points at No. 4, with Cerdan fighting off the first one but not the second as Ohio State completed the come-from-behind win by taking the final two matches on court.
Michigan continues its road swing on Sunday (April 3), traveling to Penn State for an 11 a.m. match.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 11 Kari Miller (U-M) d. No. 26 Isabelle Boulais (OSU), 4-6, 6-0, 6-3
No. 2 -- No. 8 Irina Cantos (OSU) d. No. 102 Nicole Hammond (U-M), 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 -- No. 73 Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. Kolie Allen (OSU), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
No. 4 -- No. 60 Sydni Ratliff (OSU) d. No. 111 Andrea Cerdan (U-M), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
No. 5 -- Lucia Marzal (OSU) d. Julia Fliegner (U-M), 7-6 (2), 0-6, 6-4
No. 6 -- Gala Mesochoritou (U-M) d. Madeline Atway (OSU), 6-4, 7-6 (6)
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 74 Jaedan Brown/Andrea Cerdan (U-M) d. Kolie Allen/Sydni Ratfliff (OSU), 6-2
No. 2 -- Isabelle Boulais/Kathleen Jones (OSU) d. Nicole Hammond/Kari Miller (U-M), 6-1
No. 3 -- Lucia Marzal/Irina Cantos (OSU) d. Anca Craciun/Gala Mesochoritou (U-M), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3; Singles 2-1-3-6-5-4
Players Mentioned
