Leave it to a newcomer to pull through.

In the No. 19 Michigan women's tennis team's match against South Carolina yesterday, freshman Michelle Sulahian had the game on the line — and she stepped up.

With the match tied 3-3 at the Varsity Tennis Center, Sulahian won the No. 6 singles match to give Michigan the win over the Gamecocks.

“My hold at five-all was pretty clutch because I definitely did not want to play a tiebreaker," Sulahian said. "I am definitely glad I got the set over with.”

Following the back-and-forth nature of the previous matches, South Carolina forced a tiebreaker in the second set.

At five-all in the tiebreaker, the Gamecocks made a questionable call but Sulahian refused to be flustered.

“I thought the ball caught the line, but I definitely was not going to dwell on it," Sulahian said. "Normally, I would blow up, but with everyone watching, I stayed calm.”

Sulahian's victory came after the Wolverines opened up dual-match play this weekend with a dominating performance over Marquette.

Michigan overpowered the Golden Eagles on Friday afternoon. The Wolverines didn't drop a set in singles play and secured the doubles point with a decisive 8-3 victory led by the No. 3 doubles team of senior Lindsey Howard and Sulahian.

In less than 48 hours, the Wolverines were back on the court. Ultimately, the Wolverines pulled out the victory against the talented and underrated Gamecocks.

“I’m glad Friday’s match wasn’t very competitive, because we had more time to recover,” Sulahian said.

Sunday's three doubles matches went down to the wire, but the Wolverines squeezed out the point behind a clutch performance by the No. 1 doubles team of senior Chisako Sugiyama and junior Tania Mahtani. Both exploited South Carolina's weak second serves.

After a Gamecocks' shot was called wide, the match was thought to be over and the Wolverines team ran to the net to shake hands with their opponents. But the Gamecocks refused to budge, claiming the ball had clipped the back part of the line. After the umpire reaffirmed that the ball was indeed wide, South Carolina hesitantly approached the net and the 8-6 victory was confirmed.

The No. 2 doubles team of sophomores Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuano also helped the cause by winning their match 8-5.

Playing at No. 1 singles, Sugiyama was upset in straight sets and appeared both tired and frustrated.

At No. 2 singles, Tatsuano struggled to get her first serve in with regularity and lost in straight sets to Ana Marija Zubori. Zubori, who ultimately won the match in straight sets (6-3, 6-4), attacked Tatsuano's second serve and threw in a bevy of trick shots that frustrated Tatsuano and forced her to change her gameplan.

But it was Sulahian's performance that clinched the win even after her disappointing doubles outing.

Sulahian, who had lost for the second time that weekend in her No. 3 doubles match with Howard, appeared to relish all of the pressure and the emotions of the crowd.

“After the doubles, me and Lindsay just wanted to get the performance out of our head.” Sulahian said.