With Michigan up 3-0 in a strong outing, junior Julia Fliegner and senior Gala Mesochoritou were clear favorites to win their singles matches and put the Wolverine’s final point on the board. But when they noticed their match points would be played simultaneously, they knew only one of them could take the win.
After being crowned regular season conference champions last weekend, the No. 2 Michigan women’s tennis team (24-3 overall, 11-0 Big Ten) looked to extend its winning mentality as it hosted the Big Ten Tournament. And after steamrolling past Purdue (13-10, 5-6) in its opening match, 4-0, the objective was clear: win it all.
“We’re definitely excited, definitely ready,” freshman Piper Charney said. “But we know every team is going to come for us, so (we) just got to stay ready.”
In the two teams’ last encounter, the Wolverines’ experimental doubles pairings cost them the point. But on Friday, all three doubles courts were lined up with Michigan’s most successful duos, who faced little trouble in getting the doubles point.
No. 8 seniors Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown started off strong, handily taking the first five games due in part to Brown’s attentiveness at the net. However, the pair preemptively took their foot off the gas, allowing the Boilermakers’ Carmen Gallardo Guevara and Tara Katarina Milić to hold serve twice and break Brown’s service game. But as Purdue was pushing its hardest to come back, Miller pushed harder to put the match in the Wolverines’ favor, winning the final game.
“We got a little safe,” Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein said. “I thought we were really aggressive and moving a lot at the net early on, and then we got complacent in hoping they were going to give it to us.”
In contrast, sophomore Lily Jones and junior Julia Fliegner’s No. 3 started off neck and neck. The first three games were all played to the deuce point, where Jones’ intelligent poaches and serves helped the pair hold onto two. And after breaking Purdue’s serve in the fourth game, the remainder of the match saw nothing but Michigan command. Fliegner’s solidity at the baseline prevented the Boilermakers from winning another game, and her smash on match point secured a 6-1 win, and simultaneously, the doubles point.
With the doubles point secured, Charney and fellow freshman Reese Miller abandoned a close but winnable match on court No. 2.
After imposing their presence in a relatively one-sided doubles outing, the Wolverines were ready to carry the energy into singles action.
Though not being able to finish her doubles match, Charney was motivated to pick up a singles win. In a dominant performance, Charney lost just one game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Throughout, Purdue’s Ashlie Wilson was unable to counter Charney’s groundstrokes, and she even managed to get to some of Wilson’s smashes. And in typical Charney fashion, she used her drop shot to close out the match, putting Michigan’s second point on the board.
“As a freshman (Charney) has done unbelievable for us down low,” Bernstein said. “She competes well, she wants to do well for our team. She’s way into it.”
Adjacent to Charney, Jones also took command in her first set against Milić with consistently strong backhands and slices. Serving with set point, Jones did everything she could to close it out, but a Milić forehand skimmed the top of the net on its way back, killing the ball’s momentum and Jones’ hopes of winning the last game without dropping a point. But poetically, Jones’ final stroke during the next point also graced the net before landing in the service box. And Milić, at the baseline, could only watch as the set was finished. Jones kept it going into the second set, which was more sharply contested than the 6-2 first set, but she still won, 6-4.
The Wolverines’ dominance continued into the other courts. No. 27 Fliegner on court three and Mesochoritou on court two both took their first sets, albeit through different methods. Fliegner exploited some of her opponent’s weaker serves and precisely aimed her strokes to the sidelines. Mesochoritou, on the other hand, played long points to drag her opponent close to the net and then put a lob into the space behind.
Both were on track to win in the second set, playing their match points at the same time, but only one of them was needed to secure Michigan’s final point. Even though the ball was put into play a few seconds earlier in Mesochoritou’s court, the point could not end as quickly as Fliegner could serve and watch her opponent’s return go straight to the net. With a 6-2, 6-3 win on Fliegner’s court, Michigan took the match, blanking Purdue.
Despite not being able to finish, Brown and No. 3 Kari always had the upper hand in their matches. Kari in particular played well while facing a familiar face in Gallardo on court one. Much like in their previous encounter, Kari took the first set, this time forcing enough errors from Gallardo to win 6-1. And exactly like in their previous encounter, the match was abandoned in a tightly contested second set.
Going into the tournament, one-seeded Michigan had high expectations. And through a series of commanding singles matches and a solid doubles outing on Friday, the Wolverines lived up to just that. Imposing itself with a solid win to open the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan has evidently shown that it is a force to be reckoned with.