Virginia Falls 4-3 At No. 9 Michigan
March 10, 2017
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Virginia women’s tennis team (5-5) battled to an early lead, but couldn’t hold off the Wolverines as No. 9 Michigan (8-3) rallied to defeat the Cavaliers 4-3 on Friday (March 10) at the Varsity Tennis Center.
Virginia won the doubles point and got singles wins from freshmen Camille Favero (Sacramento, Calif.) and Rosie Johanson (Abbotsford, British Columbia) to build a 3-0 advantage for the visiting Cavaliers. Virginia couldn’t find the clinching point, however, as Michigan rallied for the win.
The Cavaliers got out to the early lead in the match, fighting back on courts two and three to claim the doubles point for Virginia. The duo of Johanson and Kelley fought back to force a tiebreak, before pushing through to a 7-6 (4) win over the No. 18 duo of Minor and Ruder-Hook from Michigan. Moments later, the Virginia pairing of Hunter Bleser (New Braunfels, Texas) and Favero broke serve to take a 7-5 win over the Wolverine duo of Kara Hall and Chiara Lommer to give the Hoos the 1-0 lead in the match.
The Cavaliers then took the 3-0 lead in the overall match with the wins from Favero and Johanson on courts six and two, respectively. Favero finished first, defeating Kara Hall 6-1, 6-2 on court six, while Johanson downed No. 20 Kate Fahey 6-2, 6-1 on court two. It was the second win over a higher-ranked foe this week for Johanson.
Michigan then got on the board with a win on court five as Mira Ruder-Hook defeated Teodora Radosavljevic, 6-1, 7-5.
The remaining three matches all went to third sets with Michigan fighting back to force a third set on courts one and three, while Chloe Gullickson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) rallied to force a third set on court four.
The Wolverines completed the comebacks on courts one and four as No. 30 Brienne Minor defeated Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 before Gullickson was defeated 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 by Mira Ruder-Hook.
With the match tied 3-3, all eyes shifted focus to court three as Kelley and Najarian battled to the third-set tiebreak. Najarian came out on top of the battle, completing the rally and clinching the win for the Wolverines.
Virginia will return to action on Friday, March 17, when the Cavaliers return home to host NC State as ACC play continues. Virginia is currently 3-0 in conference play.
No. 9 Michigan 4, Virginia 3
Singles
No. 30 Brienne Minor def. No. 75 Cassie Mercer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 94 Rosie Johanson def. No. 20 Kate Fahey, 6-2, 6-1
No. 119 Alex Najarian def. Meghan Kelley, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
Chiara Lommer def. Chloe Gullickson, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Mira Ruder-Hook def. Teodora Radosavljevic, 6-1, 7-5
Camille Favero def. Kara Hall, 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 5, 1, 4, 3
Doubles
No. 2 Fahey/Najarian def. No. 43 Gullickson/Mercer, 6-0
Johanson/Kelley def. No. 18 Minor/Ruder-Hook, 7-6 (4)
Bleser/Favero def. Hall/Lommer, 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3