Michigan women's tennis senior Denise Muresan’s long run at the USTA/ITA Midwest Championships ended in the finals against No. 8 Kristy Frilling of Notre Dame, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

“I didn’t really feel like I played that well today on the court,” Muresan said this week. “(Frilling) is a really good player, and I needed to play a little differently. And I really wasn’t feeling it too much today especially in the beginning, but she played really well.”

Muresan found herself behind at the start when Frilling took an early break at 3-2 and went on to take the set, 6-2.

A similar situation unfolded in the second set as Muresan went down 5-2 before clawing back to take a 6-5 lead and having a chance to serve for the set.

But Muresan faltered and lost her serve, and Frilling then raced out to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak. With a 5-0 deficit, Muresan couldn't come back and force the match to a decider.

“Usually I’m in control of the points, and I’m usually an aggressive player,” Muresan said. “I think that she was playing really aggressively. I was trying to go for too much and just missing early in the point where I usually keep the balls in the court and wait for the right shot.”

Muresan defeated players from Notre Dame and Northwestern on the way to the finals, she also had a close three-set win against a fellow Wolverine, freshman Brooke Bolender, in the quarterfinals. It was the only time Muresan lost a set leading up to the finals.

But Muresan has another chance to get some big wins coming up. As a result of her semifinal run at the ITA All-American tournament in California, Muresan qualified for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships held Nov. 4-7 in Flushing, N.Y., where she will compete against the nation’s top collegiate tennis players.

“My game has a lot to do with the mental side,” Muresan said. “I think that I just need to keep gaining confidence and keep believing in myself so that I can beat these next few top players. I need to work on a few things like coming in more and finishing off the point but I think that a huge thing for me is just confidence and the mentality on the court."

Michigan will rely on Muresan at No. 1 singles to help the team a great deal in the spring season to try and win back-to-back Big Ten titles.

“She is going to give us a chance for that point pretty much every match we play and that’s what you want,” Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein said. “I’m really happy for her. She’s worked hard and definitely deserves the results that she has had.”

Two other Wolverines, sophomore Mimi Nguyen and Bolender, made it to the quarterfinals of singles play. In doubles play, the Wolverines had two teams advance to the quarterfinals.

The team will travel to the ASU Thunderbird, Nov. 5-7, at Arizona State to end fall play.

“I’m really pleased with how we performed,” Bernstein said. “We had the best players in our region at the Varsity Tennis Center and for us to have three girls in the quarters of the singles and then two doubles teams in the quarters of the doubles is a really good showing for our team.”