Wolverines shut out Kansas to start ITA Kick-Off

Wolverines shut out Kansas to start ITA Kick-Off

Page? site: Stillwater, Oklahoma (Greenwood Tennis Center)
Case: ITA Kick Off (Day 1 of 2)
Results: #16 Michigan 4, Kansas 0
Records: UM (2-0), KU (1-1)
Next UM event: Sunday, January 29 – at Oklahoma State/vs. Oregon-ITA Kickoff (Stillwater, Oklahoma), 1 p.m. CST

STILLWATER, Okla. — The 16th-ranked University of Michigan women’s tennis team won the colon and first three singles games off court in a 4-0 shutout in the first round of the ITA kickoff on Saturday (Jan. 28). Kansas) at Oklahoma State’s Greenwood Tennis Center.

UM got on the board first and won the colon behind wins at No. 1 and No. 2.

At the top is Michigan’s No. 2 duo of Kari Mueller and Jaedan Brown won the first two games 2-0. Kansas responded with back-to-back games to hold the game 2-2, with Miller holding at love for a 3-2 lead. UM broke again for a 4-2 lead, conceding the deuce point and cementing the break in the following game for a 5-2 lead. After KU held their next service game, Michigan closed it out with their first match point behind a Brown winner at net for a 6-3 win.

At the same time Michigan’s No. 2 pair Julia Flegner and Lily Jones took a break, with the No. 3 duo of Andrea Cerdan and Merry Kelly 5-2 back.

Cerdan and Kelly fended off a match point with a two-point and eventually served again at 5-4. Trailing 30-0 on Cerdan’s serve, Michigan ripped away four points in a row to level the match 5-5 and stay on the court long enough for Jones and Fliegner to finish it off.

Jones and Fliegner earned the double for the Wolverines after a 6-4 win in 2nd place. The Wolverine duo earned the break they needed at 3-2 and secured it in the next game with a 4-2 lead. That was all that needed space, as both sides held onto until the end of the game when Fliegner sealed the 6-4 win with a match point ace down the middle.

Michigan quickly took control in singles, winning five first sets after Brown won 7-2 in the tiebreak.

Cerdan took a 3-0 lead in the first set and never looked back on a 6-2 win. She followed a similar script in the second set, winning the first two games en route to a 6-1 second set win in just 22 minutes for Michigan’s second point of the afternoon.

Jones followed moments later in a 6-0, 6-4 win in 5th place. After racing to a win in the first set, Jones capitalized on a late break in the second set to put Michigan’s third point on the board.

It was a race from there to the end, as both Brown and Miller jumped out to big leads in their respective second sets while also holding match points.

Brown finished first, giving Michigan the fourth point on the board behind a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win over No. 26 Malkia Ngounoue at the head of the lineup. The first set contained several breaks as neither player was able to hold the serve throughout and headed for a breaker. Brown won four of the first five points and the last three in a 7-2 win. It was all Brown in the second set as she drove to the 6-1 win.

The remaining games on the court were abandoned as Michigan recorded the 4-0.

UM meets either No. 14 Oklahoma State or Oregon in the second round of the ITA Kickoff tomorrow (Jan. 29) at 1pm CST.

Match-by-match results follow

singles

#1 — #40 Jaedan Brown (UM) d. No.26 Malkia Ngounoue (KU), 7-6(2), 6-1
#2 — #81 Kari Mueller (UM) vs. Maria Titova (KU), 6-3, 5-2 surrendered
#3 — #39 Julia Flegner (UM) surrendered against Carmen Roxana Manu (KU), 6-4, 3-5
#4 — #103 Gala Mesochoritou (UM) vs. Tamari Gagoshidze (KU), 2-6, 5-3 surrendered
#5 — #65 Lily Jones (UM) d. Silvia Costache (KU), 6: 0, 6: 4
#6 — #101 Andrea Cerdan (UM) d. Heike Van Vuuren (KU), 6-2, 6-1

double
#1 — #2 Jaedan Brown/Kari Mueller (UM) d. Malkia Ngounoue/Heike Van Vuuren (KU), 6-3
No. 2 — Julia Flegner/Lily Jones (UM) d. Maria Titova/Tamari Gagoshidze (KU), 6-4
#3– Andrea Cerdan/Merry Kelly (UM) surrendered against Carmen Roxana Manu/Jocelyn Massey (KU), 5-5

Order of Completion: Doubles 1-2, Singles 6-5-1