A wave of beginner's luck seems to have come over the Michigan
women's tennis team.

Opening their fall season by hosting the Wolverine Invitational
this past weekend, all three of Michigan's newly-acquired freshmen
won each of their respective singles flights.

"The freshmen are very competitive," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt
said. "Together they are going to make an outstanding class. When
you have freshmen who can come in and contribute like that right
away, it just makes everybody better."

Freshman Kara Delicata easily defeated Western Michigan's Carrie
Jeanmaire in the finals of the "Maize" flight, 6-0, 6-2, with a
combination of aggressive net play and groundstroke execution.

Delicata's championship match turned out to be the only finals
contest Michigan played against an opposing school.

In the "Wolverine" flight, freshman Lindsey Goldstein came out
on top in an evenly-matched final round against her junior teammate
Leanne Rutherford (6-3, 1-6, 6-2). Several changes in momentum
contributed to the intensity and competitiveness of this intrasquad
faceoff.

"It's all business," Goldstein said. "You don't look at the face
across the net."

Goldstein said that forgetting about her second set loss allowed
her to focus on improving in the third.

Freshman Liz Exon took first place in the "Blue" flight after
defeating her teammate, junior Chrissie Nolan (6-3, 6-1). Exon said
that going with the flow was key in her first tournament win as a
Wolverine.

"I was just really relaxed," Exon said. "I told myself just to
step in."

Rounding out Michigan's sweep in the top three spots of the
"Blue" flight, senior Kavitha Tipirneni claimed third place after
destroying DePaul's Gergana Ganeva in straight sets (6-1, 6-1).

Tipirneni and Delicata brought their singles success to the
doubles competition, where they defeated teammates Nolan and
Rutherford in a nail biter, eight-game pro-set (9-7).

Tennis matches don't get much closer than this doubles
final.

Down 15-40, match-point at 6-7, Tipirneni/Delicata miraculously
bounced back, breaking Nolan/Rutherford to tie the match. Though
both sides exchanged breaks a handful of times throughout the
round, this one proved to be the deciding change in momentum.

"We just said, 'Take it one point at a time; whatever happens,
happens,' " Delicata said. "As long as you have the mindset that
you can come back, then anything is possible."

Of course, the win was a bittersweet victory of sorts, as it
came at the expense of fellow teammates.

"Its always hard to play your teammate," Delicata said. "But we
are so close, and we understand it's a competition; when it's done,
we are all friends in the lockerroom."

Goldstein and sophomore doubles partner Debra Streifler added to
the Wolverines' tear, winning their consolation finals match 8-4
against Lisa Maloney and Heidi Romer of Bowling Green.