Wolverines Knock off Wisconsin, Remain Perfect in Big Ten Play

Wolverines Knock off Wisconsin, Remain Perfect in Big Ten Play

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)

Score: #3 Michigan 5, #17 Wisconsin 2

Records: U-M (12-3, 4-0 B1G), UW (13-3, 4-2 B1G)

Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 26 — vs. Minnesota (Varsity Tennis Center), Noon

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan women’s tennis team won the doubles point in dramatic fashion and won four-of-six singles matches to remain perfect  in Big Ten action with a 5-2 win over Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon (March 25) at the Varsity Tennis Center.

The Wolverines grabbed the early lead by coming away with the doubles point that lasted nearly an hour. U-M breezed to a 6-1 win at No. 3, as Merri Kelly and Andrea Cerdan broke to start the match and never looked back in the win.

Michigan went up a break at 5-3 at the top spot, while Julia Fliegner and Lily Jones fought back from a 5-2 deficit at No. 2 to close within 5-4. Wisconsin held in the next game at the middle spot for a 6-4 win and got the match back on serve at 5-5 at No. 1.

Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller held in their next service game, fighting off two break points for the 6-5 lead. On the deuce point, Miller’s serve clipped the net but found its way in and Brown put the point away at the net moments later. Wisconsin returned the favor, holding in its ensuing service game to force a tiebreaker.

Michigan raced out to a 3-0 lead, but UW answered with four straight points for a 4-3 lead. The teams went back and forth from there as U-M fought off a match point to tie it at 6-6. Miller and Brown won the final three points of the tiebreaker; winning 8-6 to put the first point of the afternoon on the board.

Cerdan accounted for Michigan’s second point of the afternoon, turning in a methodical 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6. In the first set, Cerdan turned a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 win. She got the break she needed midway through her second set and did not drop another game in an identical 6-2 victory.

Wisconsin forced second sets at both No. 3 and No. 5 as Michigan continued to search for another point.

Brown put U-M’s third point on the board, dispatching of No. 44-ranked Ava Markham in straight sets at the top of the lineup. Brown found herself in a 4-1 hole in…