SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- After rain and wet court conditions delayed the start of the match nearly six hours, the No. 8-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won four of six singles matches to defeat San Diego, 4-2, on Friday (March 8) at the Hogan Tennis Center. The teams did not play doubles.
Site: San Diego, Calif. (Hogan Tennis Center)
Score: #8 Michigan 4, San Diego 2
Records: U-M (9-3), USD (3-4)
Next U-M Match: Saturday, March 23 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), 11 a.m. CDT
The Wolverines picked up all four of their wins in straight sets. Sophomore Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels), listed No. 41 in the latest ITA singles rankings, and senior Mimi Nguyen (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) breezed at the No. 1 and No. 6 positions, yielding just seven games between them. In the No. 3 and 4 spots, sophomore Sarah Lee (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall), ranked No. 75, and junior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) each took the first set by a 7-5 margin before closing out their victories with lopsided second sets.
Freshman Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum), ranked No. 33 nationally, had her 15-match singles winning streak halted by Laura Claus, falling 6-3, 6-3. Freshman Amy Zhu (Newark, Del./Laurel Springs) came up short in the closest match of the day, winning the second set in a tiebreaker but falling, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 to Marta Stojanovic.
Michigan will return to action on March 23 when it resumes Big Ten Conference play against Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Doubles will start at 11 a.m. CDT.
Following are match-by-match results:
SINGLES
No. 1 -- #41 Emina Bektas (U-M d. Stephanie Hoffpauir (USD), 6-0, 6-3
No. 2 -- Laura Claus (USD) d. #33 Ronit Yurovsky (U-M), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 -- #75 Sarah Lee (U-M d. Shani Blecher (USD), 7-5, 6-2
No. 4 -- Brooke Bolender (U-M) d. Anna Depenau (USD), 7-5, 6-0
No. 5 -- Marta Stojanovic (USD) d. Amy Zhu (U-M), 6-4, 6-7, 7-5
No. 6 -- Mimi Nguyen (U-M) d. Cara Brown (USD), 6-1, 6-3
N O T E S
• Michigan improved to 2-3 all-time against San Diego. The Wolverines' other win in the series came during the 1996-97 season.
• Mimi Nguyen's win at No. 6 moved her career singles win total to 84, one victory shy of tying Michelle Sulahian (2009-12) for 10th on the school's career list.
• Ronit Yurovsky suffered her first singles loss of the dual match season, dropping her record to 7-1 in duals and 16-5 overall. She had won 15 consecutive matches overall.
• The match at San Diego began a stretch of four consecutive road outings for the Wolverines. After a week off from competition next week, Michigan will play three times in five days with matches at Wisconsin (March 23), Minnesota (March 24) and Notre Dame (March 27).
Contact: Sarah VanMetre (734) 763-4423
