Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan
Wildcats Tripped Up by Wolverines, 4-3
4/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 3, 2010
Complete Results
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After surrendering a hard-fought doubles point, No. 4 Northwestern put itself in position to win its showdown against No. 8 Michigan with several strong performances in singles, including a win by Stacey Lee in which she won 12 straight games to end the match. But Michigan was able to collect the three singles wins it needed to claim a 4-3 dual win over the Wildcats Saturday at the Combe Tennis Center.
Northwestern falls to 13-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten while Michigan improves to 14-3 on the season with a 4-0 mark in conference play. Saturday's loss was the first for the Wildcats against a Big Ten opponent since April, 4, 2004, a string of 81 straight matches.
Doubles play was predictably close but it was Michigan who posted the first win of the afternoon as Tania Mahtani and Denise Muresan broke open a tight match at No. 3 doubles to take a 6-2 lead on Lee and Linda Abu Mushrefova. The 'Cats pulled as close as 7-4 before the Wolverines finished off an 8-4 victory.
The No. 1 doubles match pitted No. 23 Lauren Lui and Maria Mosolova of Northwestern against No. 36 Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno of Michigan. The match was tied at four when Taney and Tatsuno took a stranglehold on the match, going ahead 6-4 en route to an 8-5. The fifth consecutive win for the Wolverine pair clinched the doubles point in Michigan's favor.
The action went down to the wire at No. 2 doubles where Samantha Murray and Elena Chernyakova went back and forth with Michigan's Mimi Nguyen and Michelle Sulahian. The Wolverines took a late 8-7 lead before the 'Cats forced a breaker, where Nguyen and Sulahian took a quick 3-0 lead. Murray and Chernyakova got as close as 6-5 before Michigan won on the ensuing point to complete the sweep.
Looking for a fresh start in singles, Mosolova started her No. 1 match against 25th-ranked Muresan in strong fashion before falling into a slump that allowed Muresan to win the first set 6-3. Mosolova continued to reach almost every ball sent her way by Muresan but could not come up with the winners necessary as Muresan won the second set, 6-0, to give Michigan its second point.
After a bleak start at No. 6, Northwestern got an enormous turn of fortunes when Stacey Lee took a 5-1 deficit and turned it into a 7-5 first-set win against Sulahian. The NU sophomore kept that momentum rolling in the second, winning the last 12 games of the match to turn in a 7-5, 6-0 victory.
Lauren Lui won a hard-fought first set, 6-3, against Rika Tatsuno before dominating the second set with the kind of tennis that has left her with a 34-1 career Big Ten singles record. A quick-reaction lob volley at the net gave her a 4-0 lead in the set and Lui held on to close out the match, 6-1.
Chernyakova fought her way to a 5-2 advantage at No. 5 before Michigan's Tania Mahtani stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. Chernyakova managed to tie things at 6-all but Mahtani led throughout the tiebreaker, winning it 7-4. Mahtani took the second by a 6-2 score, giving Michigan a third point with two matches remaining on the courts.
Northwestern's Kate Turvy held down the No. 4 position where the freshman won a tough fourth game to take a 3-1 lead early versus Mimi Nguyen. But after going ahead 5-2, Turvy surrendered the next five games to Nguyen as the Wolverine fought to win the first set 7-5. Nguyen then opened up the second set to win 6-3 and clinch the winning fourth point for the visitors from Michigan.
At No. 2, the 45th-ranked Murray recovered from a 4-1 deficit to get within one at 4-3 before her opponent, Whitney Taney, managed to close the set 6-3. Murray answered by winning the second set, 6-3, sending the match into a decisive third set where Murray managed to take a 4-2 lead. She finished off her afternoon by winning 6-3 to set the final score at 4-3 in favor of Michigan.
Northwestern will seek to put an end to its brief three-match losing skid when it hosts Michigan State tomorrow (Sunday) at 11 a.m. Weather permitting, the match will be played at the outdoor Vandy Christie Tennis Center on Sheridan Road in Evanston.
No. 8 Michigan 4, No. 4 Northwestern 3
Singles
1: #25 Denise Muresan (MI) def. #13 Maria Mosolova (NU), 6-3, 6-0
2: #45 Samantha Murray (NU) def. Whitney Taney (MI), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
3: Lauren Lui (NU) def. Rika Tatsuno (MI), 6-3, 6-1
4: Mimi Nguyen (MI) def. Kate Turvy (NU), 7-5, 6-3
5: Tania Mahtani (MI) def. Elena Chernyakova (NU), 7-6 (4), 6-2
6: Stacey Lee (NU) def. Michelle Sulahian (MI), 7-5, 6-0
Doubles
1: #36 Taney/Tatsuno (MI) def. #23 Lui/Mosolova (NU), 8-5
2: Nguyen/Sulahian (MI) def. Chernyakova/Murray (NU), 9-8 (5)
3: Mahtani/Muresan (MI) def. Abu Mushrefova/Lee (NU), 8-4
Order of Finish
Singles: (1, 3, 6, 5, 4*, 2)
Doubles: (3, 1*, 2)
