Another weekend meant two more opponents for the No. 9 Michigan women’s tennis team to knock off. This weekend, the Wolverines traveled to Iowa and Nebraska and dispatched both teams, 6-1 and 5-2, respectively.
When a team is having a season as impressive as Michigan’s (9-0 Big Ten, 17-4 overall), in which it hasn’t lost since March 12, it may seem difficult to not think about what’s to come.
With the regular season drawing to a close, and the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament looming, Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein insists that her team’s minds are in the right place.
“We (have to) get through next weekend before we even think about the tournament,” Bernstein said. “We just want to finish strong.”
Prior to the weekend, the Wolverines were looking ahead at a tough road trip. Their first stop was Iowa.
With the doubles point already secured, the outcome of the No. 1 doubles match didn’t matter to the score, but it mattered to freshmen Brienne Minor and Kate Fahey. After trading games back and forth for most of the match, the duo broke the Iowa serve late for a 7-5 victory.
For sophomore Mira Ruder-Hook, the energy from her doubles win transferred into her singles play. She didn’t concede a single game and was the first to finish with a score of 6-0, 6-0.
The Wolverines took five first sets in singles play and were in control for the remainder of the matches.
Senior Ronit Yurovsky clinched Michigan’s victory with her 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles.
Michigan’s only loss came at No. 6 singles where sophomore Kara Hall fell 2-6, 6-3, 0-1.
With a victory against Iowa under their belts, the Wolverines next traveled to Lincoln to battle the Cornhuskers.
Michigan suffered an uncommon loss in its doubles play, which made for concerns from the Wolverines, as they have only won two other matches after dropping the doubles point.
“They were aggressive,” Bernstein said. “They had good energy. … We were on our heels and just never got comfortable the whole doubles.”
Luckily for the Wolverines, their singles play appeared to be moving in their favor as they won all six first sets.
Minor was the first off the court after a 6-0, 6-0 win against Nebraska’s Vasanti Shinde. Shinde was a big hitter, but Minor was able to use her power against her and produce a big win at No. 3 singles.
Fahey provided the winning match with a score of 6-3, 6-2 to secure the team’s win, but more importantly, Fahey stayed undefeated in Big Ten play.
This win marked her 14th straight singles win. She took 11 straight games from Cornhusker Mary Hanna and kept her record perfect in the conference.
Michigan hopes to maintain its perfect record in conference play as it finishes out the regular season next weekend.