Michigan
Illinois
Wolverines to Close Regular Season at the VTC
4/20/2022 3:12:00 PM | Women's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Friday, April 22 -- vs. Illinois (Varsity Tennis Center), 4 p.m. | Live Scoring/Live Video
Sunday, April 24 -- vs. Northwestern (Varsity Tennis Center), Noon | Live Scoring/Live Video
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team (14-5, 8-1 B1G) closes out the regular season this weekend with a pair of matches at the Varsity Tennis Center. U-M will host Illinois (14-7, 7-2 B1G) on Friday (April 22) and Northwestern (12-7, 7-2 B1G) on Sunday (April 24) at noon. Anca Craciun will be honored prior to the match on Sunday as part of Senior Day.
Wolverine Bites
• No. 22-ranked Michigan (12-5, 6-1 B1G) wraps up the regular season this weekend with a pair of home matches against Illinois (14-7, 7-2 B1G) and Northwestern (12-7, 7-2 B1G). U-M will host Illinois on Friday (April 22) at 4 p.m. and Northwestern on Sunday (April 24) at noon. There will be a "Go Blue" hat giveaway and maize poms available at Sunday's match.
• At 8-1 in Big Ten action, Michigan is in solo second place with a pair of matches remaining. Ohio State is the lone unbeaten team in conference play at 9-0, with matches against Maryland and Rutgers this weekend.
• Michigan is in search of its 13th Big Ten season with double-digit wins. U-M has won at least 10 conference matches in each of the last 11 seasons under Ronni Bernstein, while also going 10-0 in 1997. There was no conference season in 2020, with U-M winning at least 10 matches between 2010-2019, along with last season's 15-win mark.
• Michigan is ranked No. 23 as a team in this week's ITA rankings after wins over Nebraska and Iowa last weekend. Northwestern is listed at No. 39 and Illinois is in at No. 47.
• Anca Craciun will be honored prior to the match against Northwestern as part of Senior Day. For her career, Craciun has won 35 singles matches and 33 doubles matches. She has an 11-6 overall singles record this season, including a 2-0 dual-match mark at No. 5. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, she is earning a degree in statistics. Scholar Story
• The Wolverines enter the weekend on a four-match winning streak, their second-longest winning streak of the season. U-M won five straight matches from March 11-27 en route to starting 4-0 in conference play.
• U-M now has five players in the 20-win club in Julia Fliegner (25), Jaedan Brown (25), Kari Miller (23) and Nicole Hammond (21) and Andrea Cerdan (20). With limited seasons the last several years, it is the first 20-win season for each of them and the first 20-win season by any Wolverine since the 2018-19 campaign.
• All nine Wolverines on the roster won their last singles match completed. Jaedan Brown and Gala Mesochoritou each hold Michigan's longest winning streak at seven matches.
• Michigan has a pair of ranked singles players in No. 16 Kari Miller and No. 89 Jaedan Brown.
• Kari Miller has anchored Michigan at the top of the lineup, going 12-2 at No. 1 in dual matches. With a three-set win over No. 26 Isabelle Boulais of Ohio State (April 1), Miller now has seven singles wins against ranked opponents in dual-match play. She has been named the Big Ten Athlete of the Week twice this season.
• Illinois (14-7, 7-2 B1G) is coming off a 4-3 win over Northwestern last weekend, erasing a 2-0 deficit to get the win. U-M won both matches against Illinois last season, taking a pair of 4-0 matches during the regular season and at the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan is 41-11 all-time against the Illini.
• Northwestern (12-7, 7-2 B1G) lost the aforementioned match to Illinois in its lone contest last weekend. NU has one ranked singles player in No. 113 Clarissa Hand. U-M beat Northwestern three times last season, including a 5-2 win at home when the Wildcats were ranked No. 7. U-M has won five straight and nine of the last 10 against Northwestern.
• U-M is 145-8 (.947) in Big Ten regular-season play under head coach Ronni Bernstein. She has led the Wolverines to nine of the last 11 Big Ten championship titles awarded (no title awarded in 2020), as well as three tournament crowns since taking over prior to the 2007-08 season.
• Michigan head coach Ronni Bernstein, who is in her 15th season in Ann Arbor, became Michigan's all-time winningest coach earlier this season. Bernstein is up to 299 victories at Michigan following a 2-0 weekend. In addition, Bernstein can become the first coach to win 300 matches at Michigan with one more win this season.
Up Next
Wed-Sun, April 27-May 1 -- at Big Ten Tournament (Iowa City, Iowa)
Players Mentioned
