Michigan
Virginia
Jones Seals Michigan's Win Over Virginia
2/3/2024 3:55:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Score: #5 Michigan 5, #11 Virginia 2
Records: U-M (4-1), UVA (6-1)
Next U-M Event: Tuesday, Feb. 6 -- vs. Florida (Varsity Tennis Center), 5 p.m.
Â
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With the No. 5-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team needing one more point, sophomore Lily Jones won the final five games of her third set at No. 6, sealing a 5-2 win over No. 11-ranked Virginia on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Michigan jumped out to a 3-1 lead behind the doubles point and a pair of straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 2 sandwiched around a Virginia win at No. 5. The Cavaliers won the next match off court at No. 4 to trim the Michigan lead to 3-2, with U-M needing to pull out a third set to clinch the match.
Jones put the deciding point on the board, recovering from a break of serve in the third game of the final set by winning the next five games. In the first set, Jones was down early before rallying to tie it at 5-5. She was unable to hold her serve in the next game, eventually dropping a 7-5 decision. She flipped the script in the second set, breaking for a 6-5 lead and holding her serve to send the match to a third.
After falling behind 2-1, it was all Jones from there as she won the next five games. In the final game, she grabbed a pair of match points and converted the second, breaking No. 82 Melodie Collard in the final game to complete a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win for Michigan's fourth point.
Michigan grabbed early control of the match behind the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 after Virginia struck first at No. 1. Â Anna Ross and Jones answered with a 6-3 win over No. 48 Natasha Subhash and Hibah Shaikh to even doubles action. Jones and Ross took advantage of a late break in the match, stringing together their third-straight win as a pair.
The freshman duo of Reese Miller and Piper Charney kept it close early before pulling away and clinching the doubles point with a 7-5 victory. The Wolverines went down a break late before breaking back and holding on Charney's serve. They grabbed a pair of match points on Virginia's serve and made good on the first for the 7-5 win at Michigan's first point of the afternoon.
Michigan and Virginia split the six first sets in singles.
Kari Miller dominated at the top of the lineup to put Michigan's second point on the board, taking a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 86 Annabelle Xu for a 2-0 Michigan lead.
Virginia halved the U-M lead behind a straight-set win at No. 5.
The Maize and Blue wasted little time extending its lead, with Julia Fliegner coming through with a 6-0, 7-6 (5) win at No. 2. After coasting to the first-set win, Fliegner grabbed a 5-2 lead in the second but dropped two straight games for a 5-4 lead. She had a match point on the deuce point on her opponent's serve in the next game but could not convert. The set eventually headed to a breaker, where Fliegner pulled out a 7-5 win for Michigan's third point of the day. She broke a 4-4 tie by winning the next two points and converted her second match point of the tiebreaker with a ball off the tape.
Virginia won a straight-set match at No. 4 to set Jones up to clinch the match.
With the match in hand, Jaedan Brown picked up her first singles win in dual-match action with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win at No. 3 to provide the final 5-2 margin.
Michigan wraps up its four-match homestand on Tuesday (Feb. 6), hosting No. 8 Florida at 5 p.m. The first 150 fans will receive a maize Michigan t-shirt.
Â
Following are match-by-match results
 Singles
No. 1 -- No. 10 Kari Miller (U-M) def. No. 86 Annabelle Xu (Virginia), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 -- No. 39 Julia Fliegner (U-M) def. No. 46 Hibah Shaikh (Virginia), 6-0, 7-6(5)
No. 3 --Â Jaedan Brown (U-M) def. Natasha Subhash (Virginia), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
No. 4 -- No. 88 Sara Ziodato (Virginia) def. No. 82 Gala Mesochoritou (U-M), 7-6(4), 7-6(3)
No. 5 -- Elaine Chervinsky (Virginia) def. Piper Charney (U-M), 6-3, 7-5
No. 6 -- No. 47 Lily Jones (U-M) def. No. 82 Melodie Collard (Virginia), 5-7, 7-5, 6-2
Â
Doubles
No. 1 -- Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (Virginia) def. No. 8 Jaedan Brown/Kari Miller (U-M), 6-2
No. 2 -- Anna Ross/Lily Jones (U-M) def. No. 48 Natasha Subhash/Hibah Shaikh (Virginia), 6-3
No. 3 -- Reese Miller/Piper Charney (U-M) def. Annabelle Xu/Sara Ziodato (Virginia), 7-5
Â
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2-3; Singles 1-5-2-4-6-3
Players Mentioned
