The stage was set for a Big Ten Tournament title for the Michigan women’s tennis team.

The 10th-ranked Wolverines were playing on their home courts, fresh off of their second consecutive Big Ten regular-season championship. They sailed through the conference slate with a perfect 10-0 record and cruised through their first two rounds of action in the Big Ten Tournament, beating both Minnesota and Ohio State by 4-0 scores.

And even with cloudy skies, whirling winds and a light drizzle, a packed crowd was gathered to watch Michigan take on its rival No. 17 Northwestern in the tournament championship.

But after taking a dominant 3-0 lead against the Wildcats, Michigan stumbled and collapsed as Northwestern clawed its way back to defeat the Wolverines 4-3 and win the Big Ten Tournament title.

“It’s a tough one, for sure, to swallow,” Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein said. “We won a really close doubles point, won two singles, (and) got up 3-0. You got four matches there and you hope you can pull one out.”

The inclement weather seemed to be an ominous sign for the Wolverines. All three doubles teams got off to rocky starts and faced deficits late in their matches. Michigan also faced an early hole after freshman Sam Critser and senior Mimi Nguyen lost a contested match 8-6.

But the Wolverines’ fortunes appeared to turn. Seniors Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno wheeled off four straight games to win their match 8-5.

Senior Denise Muresan and freshman Brooke Bolender climbed back from a 6-4 deficit to tie their match at 7-7. Muresan and Bolender soon took control of their match, as their Northwestern counterparts unraveled. Muresan and Bolender’s valiant effort paid off as they won their match 9-7, giving the Wolverines confidence and a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats.

Michigan seemed primed to end Northwestern’s 12-year reign as Big Ten Tournament champions after Taney and Tastuno both breezed through their singles matches, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-3, respectively.

But just as the sun started to shine, so did Northwestern’s confidence. Nguyen and Critser were both ousted in straight sets. The one-set advantages that both Bolender and Muresan possessed in their matches vanished and gave way to doubt, as both players lost in three sets.

“We just, mentally and physically, were not in those third sets,” Bernstein said. “I think physically they were a little bit better today at the end. They had more gas in the tank and (were) just way more positive. You’ve got to be strong mentally to pull out matches like that.”

After dominating the first set with powerful groundstrokes and consistent serves, No. 7 Muresan began to lose her composure after falling behind early in the second set to No. 13 Maria Mosolova.

Following a half-hearted comeback, Muresan's emotions took over. She sprayed several unforced errors and earned herself two racket-throwing violations on her way to a disheartening 6-2, 3-6, 1-6 loss.

But there was still hope for the Wolverines. Bolender battled to a 2-1 lead in the third set against fellow freshman Belinda Niu, beautifully finishing off points at the net. But even as Niu appeared to be fatigued, she found the strength to overpower Bolender and win the next five games for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory, setting off a frenzied celebration by the Wildcats.

“Hand it to Northwestern,” Bernstein said. “They took the match. They were willing to be more aggressive and that’s the way you’re going to win the match. They did it and we didn’t.”

Bernstein remained optimistic for her team, suggesting that the loss could make Michigan that much more stronger as they prepare for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

“They’re disappointed,” Bernstein said. “They wanted to do this, especially on their home courts (and) in front of our crowd. But we’re going to learn from it and hopefully we’ll be stronger in these situations and be able to them out. Maybe this could be a good wake-up call.

“I still have a lot of confidence in this team.”