University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
University of Michigan
Gophers Fall Short against Michigan, 5-2
3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Minneapolis, Minn. - After over three and a half hours of tennis, the University of Minnesota women's tennis team (11-7, 3-1 Big Ten) fell to the visiting Michigan Wolverines (7-8, 3-0 Big Ten) at Baseline Tennis Center.
"Michigan is always one of the top teams in this conference and I thought we gave ourselves a great opportunity to get a win today," head coach Catrina Thompson said after the dual. "We didn't execute down the stretch and finish the match how we wanted to. We have Indiana on Sunday, and we have to find a way to prepare for them and go out and perform."
The Gophers set themselves up great early by obtaining the doubles point over the Wolverines, which included an upset for the Gophers No. 1 pairing of Caitlyn Merzbacher and Mehvish Safdar, who now are 3-0 this season against ranked opponents. The Gophers were unable to finish off the Wolverines in singles play, falling in five of the final six matches.
"It really feels great to get that win today," Safdar said after the match. "We lost to that same team last year, and we took it kind of personally to try and go out and get that win today. We knew they weren't just going to hand it over to us, and it was really a great start to our day today."
Doubles
The Gophers would begin the day with their No. 3 and No. 1 pairings picking up victories in doubles play. The veteran and rookie combo of Caroline Ryba and River Hart would jump out to a big 5-0 lead, and eventually captured a 6-2 win. Michigan would knot up doubles with a 6-3 win in the No. 2 slot, putting it all on the Gophers No. 1 pairing. Merzbacher and Safdar stepped up once again against a ranked opponent, this time the No. 53 ranked team, rallying back from down 5-4 and winning the set 7-5 to earn the doubles point over the Maize and Blue.
Singles
Michigan wasted no time bringing the score even with a quick victory at No. 3 with Brienne Minor taking a 6-2, 6-2 win over Annemarie Emme. The Gophers once again got another quality outing from Merzbacher in the No. 5 position. She won her fifth straight singles match, putting her spring season record to 16-2, the best record on the team. After a victory for Michigan at the No. 1 position, the Gophers seemed to have control with three matches to go, with a lead in all three of the matches at one point. Barbara Mancera would fall first in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, putting the Gophers in a position where they needed to win both of the final matches on the court.
In those final two matches, Tina Kreinis would get as close as match point, but Chiara Lommer, the No. 93 ranked player in the nation, fought back and would eventually take the win and clinch the dual for Michigan by a score of 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Up Next
For the first time this season, Minnesota will have to split the weekend with a home dual and a road dual. The team will head for Bloomington, Ind. to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday morning. You can find links to watch the Gophers and Hoosiers here and also follow on the Gopher women's tennis twitter account.
Michigan 5, Minnesota 2
Doubles
1. Caitlyn Merzbacher/Mehvish Safdar (MINN) def. No. 53 Brienne Minor/Mira Ruder-Hook (MICH) 7-5
2. Lera Patiuk/Chiara Lommer (MICH) def. Tina Kreinis/Annemarie Emme (MINN) 6-3
3. River Hart/Caroline Ryba (MINN) def. Kate Fahey/Alyvia Jones (MICH) 6-2
Singles
1. No. 23 Kate Fahey (MICH) def. Caroline Ryba (MINN) 6-4, 6-2
2. No. 93 Chiara Lommer (MICH) def. Tina Kreinis (MINN) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
3. Brienne Minor (MICH) def. Annemarie Emme (MINN) 6-2, 6-2
4. Alyvia Jones (MICH) def. Barbara Mancera (MINN) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
5. Caitlyn Merzbacher (MINN) def. Bella Lorenzini (MICH) 6-4, 6-1
6. Mira Ruder-Hook (MICH) def. Cammy Frei (MINN) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,5,1,4,2,6)
Players Mentioned
