University of Michigan Team Page
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 13-ranked University of Michigan women's tennis team won the doubles point and got singles wins from sophomore Emina Bektas (Indianapolis, Ind./New Braunfels), freshman Amy Zhu (Newark, Del./Laurel Springs) and freshman Ronit Yurovsky (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) to defeat No. 2 Duke, 4-3, on Friday night (March 1) at the Varsity Tennis Center. It is the highest ranked opponent Michigan has ever beaten.
Michigan put the first point on the board after running away with the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. U-M's top two duos raced out to big leads en route to an 8-1 win at No. 1 and an 8-2 win at No. 2. At the top spot, the nation's third-ranked duo of junior Brooke Bolender (Delray Beach, Fla./Kaplan) and Bektas broke early to go up 2-1 and did not look back en route to the 8-1 win.
At No. 2, and sophomore Sarah Lee (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall) and Yurovsky jumped out to a 3-0 lead before surrendering their first game to Duke at 3-1. The Wolverine pair won five of the next six games to wrap up the doubles point for the Maize and Blue.
Bektas was first off court for Michigan in singles action, defeating No. 13 Hanna Mar in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) at the No. 1 spot for U-M's second team point of the evening. Zhu followed Bektas, grabbing a 6-2, 6-4 win at the No. 5 spot to push Michigan's lead to 3-0.
With Michigan on the verge of winning the team match, Duke answered with wins at No. 3 and No. 6 to cut Michigan's lead to 3-2. Bolender had an opportunity to put the match away for Michigan at the No. 4 spot, going to a second-set tiebreaker with Monica Turewicz after winning the first set. In the breaker, Bolender tied it up at 4-4, before Turewicz won the next three points to send the match to a third set.
Focus then turned to Yurovsky's match at No. 2, where she entered a third set against No. 38 Ester Goldfeld. The Wolverine freshman jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the final set, before Goldfeld ran off four straight games. Yurovsky broke Goldfeld to take a 6-5 lead, giving her an opportunity to serve out the match. Yurovsky delivered, holding serve to clinch Michigan's win.
U-M now heads to the west coast for spring break, taking on San Diego next Sunday (March 8) at 1:30 p.m. PST.
Following are match-by-match results:
Singles
No. 1 -- No. 41 Emina Bektas (U-M) d. No. 13 Hanna Mar (Duke), 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 -- No. 33 Ronit Yurovsky (U-M) d. No. 38 Ester Goldfeld (Duke), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
No. 3 -- No. 62 Mary Clayton (Duke) d. No. 75 Sarah Lee (U-M), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 -- Monica Turewicz (Duke) d. Brooke Bolender (U-M), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3
No. 5 -- Amy Zhu (U-M) d. Annie Mulholland (Duke), 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 -- No. 100 Marianne Jodoin (Duke) d. Mimi Nguyen (U-M), 7-6 (4), 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 -- No. 3 Brooke Bolender/Emina Bektas (U-M) d. No. 10 Ester Goldfeld/Mary Clayton (Duke), 8-1
No. 2 -- No. 41 Ronit Yurovsky/Sarah Lee (U-M) d. Hanna Mar/Monica Turewicz (Duke), 8-2
No. 3 -- Mimi Nguyen/Amy Zhu (U-M) vs. Annie Mulholland/Marianne Jodoin (Duke), 5-6 DNF
Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2, Singles 1-5-3-6-2-4
