Michigan women's tennis senior Denise Muresan simply ran out of steam in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Championships in New York this past Friday.

After two tiring three-set matches, Muresan could not muster enough energy to overcome Southern California's No. 3 Maria Sanchez in the quarterfinals.

Muresan’s level of play entering the tournament had been impressive. She reached the finals of the USTA/ITA Midwest Championships and the semifinals of the ITA All-American tournament in California in previous weeks.

And as the fourth seed, it was thought that Muresan would have little difficulty progressing to the latter stages of the tournament.

But that was not the case at this competition — all of the players at the ITA Indoor Championships had to qualify through rankings and performances during fall tournaments.

“I felt like I had a lot of confidence this fall going into this tournament," Muresan said this weekend. “I thought to just try and take it one match at a time because I knew that everyone that would be there would be really good and anything can happen.”

The first- and second-round matches proved exceedingly difficult for Muresan. She began on top in her first match against Mary Anne Macfarlane of Alabama, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Her second-round win against Pennsylvania's Connie Hsu was even more difficult as she had to fight back from a set and a break to force a deciding set, but Muresan still had another comeback in her. As she came back from two breaks down to take a 6-5 lead. Hsu then sent the match into a tiebreak which Muresan won to complete the comeback, ultimately winning the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

“I just started focusing on just one point at a time instead of the big picture,” Muresan said. “Then I went all out on every single point and that resulted in the match.”

Only a few hours later, Muresan was back on court against Sanchez in the quarterfinals where she was knocked out in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Sanchez went on to win the tournament.

Fatigue may have played a role in Muresan’s early exit to the tournament.

“She was definitely a really good player, but I was definitely exhausted both mentally and physically going into the match,” Muresan said.

Her quarterfinal appearance concluded Muresan's fall play. Going into the spring season, she will look to build on her progress in the fall and to repeat as Big Ten Athlete of the Year.

“I’m happy with my two wins but I definitely thought that I could have played better this weekend overall,” Muresan said. “Overall, with the fall season, I’m pretty happy with it.”