Michigan
Wisconsin
U-M Advances to B1G Championship Match With Semifinal Win Over Wisconsin
4/27/2024 2:35:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)
Event: Big Ten Tournament (Semifinals)
Score: #2 Michigan 4, Wisconsin 0
Records: U-M (25-3), UW (18-6)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 28 -- vs. Northwestern/Ohio State -- Big Ten Tournament Championship (Varsity Tennis Center), Noon
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won the doubles point and the first three singles matches off court in a 4-0 shutout of Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon (April 27) in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament at the Varsity Tennis Center. The win marked Michigan's 17th straight victory.
U-M struck first, winning the doubles point for the seventh straight match, winning the final two matches to finish to put the first point on the board.
Wisconsin won deuce points in five of the six games to finish in the match at No. 1, taking a 6-0 win.
Michigan's freshman duo of Reese Miller and Piper Charney evened the doubles ledger at one match each, taking a 6-2 win at No. 2. U-M won the first two games but could not consolidate the break as Wisconsin broke in the third game to keep the match on serve at 2-1. U-M broke Wisconsin again in the next game, with Charney holding serve in the ensuing game to give Michigan a break it never relinquished en route to a 6-2 win.
With attention turning to the match at No. 3, Wisconsin had gotten the match back on serve at 4-3 Michigan. U-M's Julia Fliegner and Lily Jones immediately got the break back, winning four straight points in the next game for a 5-3 lead. With Fliegner back to serve for the match, Michigan fell in a 15-40 hole before winning the next two points to get to the deuce point. The Wisconsin service return found the net, sealing a 6-3 Michigan win for the first point of the match.
Michigan took four first sets in singles action, all coming within two minutes of each other.
Charney picked up her 15th straight win, pushing Michigan's lead to 2-0 behind a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6. After breezing to a first-set win, Charney went up a break early and was serving up 4-2. Wisconsin answered with two games to tie the set at 4-4. Charney got the break back in the next game, going up 5-4 and served out the match in the ensuing game for Michigan's second team point of the afternoon.
Jaedan Brown quickly followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 4 to put Michigan on the brink of victory at 3-0. Much like Charney, she quickly won the first set and went up a break at 4-2 in the second. Brown had a pair of match points on Xinyu Cai's serve at 5-2, but Wisconsin fought both off to send Brown back to serve for the match. She was broken, getting the set back on serve at 5-4. With Cai again serving, Brown grabbed another two match points and converted on the second to wrap up the win.
With Michigan holding a 3-0 lead, Wisconsin forced third sets at No. 2 and No. 3 after Michigan did the same at No. 1 and No. 5.
Gala Mesochoritou clinched the Michigan victory, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 2. She was broken late in the second set by Wisconsin to set up a third and deciding set. Both players held serve in their first service games with relative ease before Mesochoritou was down 15-40 in the third game. She won the next three points to keep it on serve at 2-1. She used the momentum from there, breaking at 3-1 and consolidating the break in the next game for a 4-1 lead en route to the 6-1 win.
With the win, Michigan has advanced to the championship match of the Big Ten Tournament for the 19th straight time and will face either Ohio State or Northwestern on Sunday (April 28) at noon at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Following are match-by-match results
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 3 Kari Miller (U-M) vs. No. 83 Maria Sholokhova (Wisconsin), 4-6, 6-0 2-3 abandoned
No. 2 -- No. 58 Gala Mesochoritou (U-M) d. Alina Mukhortova (Wisconsin), 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
No. 3 -- No. 27 Julia Fliegner (U-M) vs. Taylor Cataldi (Wisconsin), 6-1, 6-7 (2), 3-2 abandoned
No. 4 -- Jaedan Brown (U-M) d. Xinyu Cai (Wisonsin), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 -- No. 78 Lily Jones (U-M) vs. Ariel Johnson (Wisconsin), 3-6, 6-3, 3-4 abandoned
No. 6 -- No. 124 Piper Charney (U-M) d. Rosie Garcia Gross (Wisconsin), 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 -- Maria Sholokhova/Alina Mukhortova (Wisconsin) d. No. 8 Kari Miller/Jaedan Brown (U-M), 6-0
No. 2 -- Piper Charney/Reese Miller (U-M) d. Xinyu Cai/Ellison Reynoldson (Wisconsin), 6-2
No. 3 -- Julia Fliegner/Lily Jones (U-M) d. Taylor Cataldi/Rosie Garcia Gross (Wisconsin), 6-3
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2-3, Singles 6-4-2
Players Mentioned
