University of Michigan Team Page
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The No. 16-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team used the doubles points and singles wins at Nos. 2, 4 and 5 to upset No. 12-ranked Virginia, 4-2, in consolation action Saturday (Feb. 9) at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Michigan jumped out to the early lead, capturing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Michigan's top pair of sophomore Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels) and junior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan), ranked No. 21, cruised to an 8-2 win over No. 10 Stephanie Nauta and Li Xi as the first match off court.
U-M fell at No. 3, 8-4, turning all attention to the match at No. 2. Michigan was up a break at 5-3 when the match at No. 3 concluded, but Virginia won three of the next four games to tie the match at 6-6. Michigan's duo of freshman Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) and sophomore Sarah Lee (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall) won the next two games to wrap up the doubles point for U-M with an 8-6 win against No. 5 Erin Vierra and Maci Epstein.
Transitioning to singles, the Wolverines took 4-of-6 first sets. Yurovsky ran her singles winning streak to 11 matches, knocking off No. 44 Li Xi, 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 2 slot to push Michigan's lead to 2-0. Moments later, Virginia cut Michigan's lead in half with a straight-set win at No. 2 for a 2-1 U-M advantage.
Virginia evened the team score at 2-2 with a win at No. 6. Freshman Amy Zhu (Newark, Del./Laurel Springs) followed with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 5 to put Michigan on the brink of winning the match.
Needing just one more singles win to take the team match, Bektas and Lee were left on court. Lee, after winning the first set, battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the second to tie the set at 5-5. Maci Epstein won the next two games, sending the match to a third and deciding set. The Michigan sophomore jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the final set, but Epstein fought back to send the set to a tiebreaker. Lee won the breaker, 7-5, sealing Michigan's upset win.
U-M will wrap up action at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 10).
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- Emina Bektas (U-M) vs. No. 4 Julia Elbaba (UVA), 7-5, 5-7, 3-4 DNF
No. 2 -- No. 61 Ronit Yurovsky (U-M) vs. No. 44 Li Xi (UVA), 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 -- No. 43 Stephanie Nauta (UVA) d. Brooke Bolender (U-M), 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 -- Sarah Lee (U-M) d. Maci Epstein (UVA), 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
No. 5 -- No. 94 Amy Zhu (U-M) vs. Hana Tomljanovic (UVA)
No. 6 -- Erin Vierra (UVA) d. Kristen Dodge (U-M), 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 21 Emina Bektas/Brooke Bolender (U-M) d. No. 10 Stephanie Nauta/Li Xi (UVA), 8-2
No. 2 -- Ronit Yurovsky/Sarah Lee (U-M) vs. No. 5 Erin Vierra/Maci Epstein (UVA), 8-6
No. 3 -- Julia Elbaba/Hana Tomljanovic (UVA) d. Mimi Nguyen/Amy Zhu (U-M), 8-4
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-3-2, Singles 2-3-6-5-4
