Before the Wolverines' second-round match in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Michigan women's tennis coach Ronnie Bernstein told her team it needed to get off to a fast start against a top-heavy Clemson lineup.

That meant winning the doubles point.

But the 13th-ranked Tigers were just good enough to take the doubles point - winning 8-5 at No. 1 and No. 3. They then breezed through the top part of Michigan's lineup to take the match 4-1.

"The doubles point was big," Bernstein said. "If we could've won the doubles point, it would've put a little more pressure on them, and going into singles it could've been a different story."

The lone Wolverine point came from freshman Rika Tatsuno's dominating perfomance against junior Federica van Adrichem 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5. After losing four of her first five matches, Tatsuno has won 17 straight matches to end the season.

"For a freshman that's pretty amazing," Bernstein said. "She has just really stepped up and played aggressively."

Tatsuno forced Adrichem, one of six international players on Clemson's roster, away from the net where the Netherlands native is most comfortable.

"Clemson is just a very good team. They are very experienced. They've played a lot and are from all over the world."

In addition to experience, the Tigers (17-9) boast five ranked players, including No. 1 Ani Mijacika. The Wolverines (19-6) have just two ranked players.

Clemson also won an ACC Championship.

But Michigan had won 17 of 18 entering the match, with the only loss coming against No. 2 Northwestern. The Wolverines had also just trampled Furman 4-0 in the first round to set up the match with Clemson.

"We thought we could come through," Bernstein said. "We were relaxed, and didn't come out nervous or anything. We have no excuse."

Michigan now has a whole summer to sulk over the loss, but it takes solace in knowing that it didn't play poorly. Clemson was just a better team.

"Once they got going, they really fought hard," Bernstein said. "And that's all you can ask. We were in there to the end. We put ourselves in a position and we just couldn't get through."

Although Michigan lost 4-1, sophomore Tania Mahtani and freshman Denise Muresan held leads in their unfinished matches.

Clemson officially won when junior Lindsey Howard fell 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2 at No. 6 singles, but the match's first point really gave the Tigers their edge.