Saturday, April 9
East Lansing, Mich.
3 p.m. ET
Michigan State University
0
vs
4
Michigan
Photo by: Leann Espinoza
Women’s Tennis Loses Tight Battle Against No. 22 Wolverines
4/9/2022 6:53:00 PM | Women's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State women's tennis team made a strong effort in singles action to overcome dropping the doubles points, but the Spartans ended up on the losing end of a 4-0 match against rival No. 22 Michigan on Saturday afternoon at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
The defeat moved the Green and White to .500 on the season at 9-9 and 1-6 in the Big Ten, while the Wolverines shifted to 12-5 overall and 6-1 in the conference.
Michigan grabbed the opening doubles match, as the Kari Miller and Andrea Cerdan were able to defeat the No. 2 MSU duo of sophomore Ayshe Can and freshman Charlotte Gisclon in straight sets, 6-0.
Merri Kelly and Nicole Hammond clinched the doubles point for Michigan on the No. 3 court, holding off a late push from the Spartan senior pairing of Nicole Stephens and Lauren Lemonds to capture a 6-2 win.
The top doubles court saw senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis respond by taking two-straight games after going down 2-0, but the top Wolverine duo of Jaedan Brown and Julia Fliegner won the next three games before the match was left unfinished at 5-2.
Cerdan, ranked 121st in the country, put the Wolverines up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Stephens, setting the tone by taking the first four games in the opening set on the fourth singles court.
The 73rd-ranked Brown had to battle to win the first set against Pietrowicz, barely avoiding the tiebreaker before handling business in the second set by winning the first five games to pick up a 7-5, 6-1 win on the No. 3 singles court.
A back-and-forth match on the top court had Lewis claim the opening over the No. 13-ranked Miller, but the Wolverines' No. 1 singles player bounced back by grabbing the next two sets, completing a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory that clinched Michigan's 4-0 victory.
In the unfinished matches, Can salvaged the first set after Hammonds came back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set to lead 6-5, tying it at 6-6 and winning the tiebreaker, but Hammonds swept the second set and was tied in the third set when the match was abandoned at 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 3-3.
For Lemonds in the No. 5 spot, she scored seven-straight points in a first-set tiebreaker with Fliegner, and started the second set strong before Fliegner fought back to make the match 7-6 (7-0), 4-5 when it was called.
On the No. 6 court, Gisclon started slow by dropping the first set against Gala Mesochoritou but got going in the second and third sets, with the two competitors ending the unfinished match at 1-6, 7-5, 1-1.
The all-time series between the two rivals now stands at 55-19 in favor of the Wolverines.
Michigan State continues the final stretch of the regular season on April 14, welcoming Iowa to East Lansing for a 5 p.m. opening serve.
The defeat moved the Green and White to .500 on the season at 9-9 and 1-6 in the Big Ten, while the Wolverines shifted to 12-5 overall and 6-1 in the conference.
Michigan grabbed the opening doubles match, as the Kari Miller and Andrea Cerdan were able to defeat the No. 2 MSU duo of sophomore Ayshe Can and freshman Charlotte Gisclon in straight sets, 6-0.
Merri Kelly and Nicole Hammond clinched the doubles point for Michigan on the No. 3 court, holding off a late push from the Spartan senior pairing of Nicole Stephens and Lauren Lemonds to capture a 6-2 win.
The top doubles court saw senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis respond by taking two-straight games after going down 2-0, but the top Wolverine duo of Jaedan Brown and Julia Fliegner won the next three games before the match was left unfinished at 5-2.
Cerdan, ranked 121st in the country, put the Wolverines up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Stephens, setting the tone by taking the first four games in the opening set on the fourth singles court.
The 73rd-ranked Brown had to battle to win the first set against Pietrowicz, barely avoiding the tiebreaker before handling business in the second set by winning the first five games to pick up a 7-5, 6-1 win on the No. 3 singles court.
A back-and-forth match on the top court had Lewis claim the opening over the No. 13-ranked Miller, but the Wolverines' No. 1 singles player bounced back by grabbing the next two sets, completing a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory that clinched Michigan's 4-0 victory.
In the unfinished matches, Can salvaged the first set after Hammonds came back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set to lead 6-5, tying it at 6-6 and winning the tiebreaker, but Hammonds swept the second set and was tied in the third set when the match was abandoned at 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 3-3.
For Lemonds in the No. 5 spot, she scored seven-straight points in a first-set tiebreaker with Fliegner, and started the second set strong before Fliegner fought back to make the match 7-6 (7-0), 4-5 when it was called.
On the No. 6 court, Gisclon started slow by dropping the first set against Gala Mesochoritou but got going in the second and third sets, with the two competitors ending the unfinished match at 1-6, 7-5, 1-1.
The all-time series between the two rivals now stands at 55-19 in favor of the Wolverines.
Michigan State continues the final stretch of the regular season on April 14, welcoming Iowa to East Lansing for a 5 p.m. opening serve.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3
#1 Singles Match
123
Kari Miller / 0 (13/-) [MICH]
466
612
#2 Singles Match
12
Jaedan Brown / 0 (73/-) [MICH]
76
51
#3 Singles Match
1234
Nicole Hammond / 0 (119/-) [MICH]
6630
703UF
#4 Singles Match
12
Andrea Cerdan / 0 (121/-) [MICH]
66
13
#5 Singles Match
123
Julia Fliegner / 0 [MICH]
650
74UF
#6 Singles Match
1234
Gala Mesochoritou / 0 [MICH]
6510
171UF
Order of Finish:
4,2,1
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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