Michigan women’s tennis keeps rolling, sweeps Miami to reach Elite Eight
Ann Arbor — The third-ranked Michigan women’s tennis team is heading back to the Elite Eight for a second straight year, and senior Gala Mesochoritou, playing the final match of her career at the Varsity Tennis Center, clinched the Sweet 16 match just as she did last year.
Michigan, with a 4-0 victory over Miami (Florida) in brisk conditions on Saturday afternoon, has now won a program-record 21 straight matches. The Wolverines (29-3) will face No. 5 Pepperdine, which advanced after defeating USC, 4-0, on Friday at Stillwater, Oklahoma. The national championship is May 19.
“I hope they can relax and enjoy it,” Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein said. “If we can go there and actually go for it and not be scared of that moment, you’ve got to take it and be willing to step up. If we can do that, why can’t it be us?”
The Wolverines won the doubles point as seniors Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown cruised on the top court, 6-1. On Court 3, Julia Fliegner and Lily Jones, who trailed 3-1, won the next four games. Fliegner served an ace on the deciding deuce point for the 6-4 victory that secured the doubles point.
They played in challenging conditions with a “feels like” temperature of 49 degrees and 17-mph wind.
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“The tennis, at times, was difficult,” said Bernstein, whose college career was at Miami, where she was a four-time ITA All-American in both singles and doubles. “It only makes us better playing in that. I think people think we’re just indoor tennis players. We actually can play outside, and we have a pretty good team. In the long run, getting a match outside like this is very good for us.”
Freshman Piper Charney won her 19th consecutive match, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6 singles to give Michigan a 2-0 lead. Fliegner and her power game did not scale back despite the wind and made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
“It was challenging, but I’m really happy with how I played in the wind,” Fliegner said. “I’m so happy with how today went. It was a complete match by everyone.”
With Miller, ranked No. 5 nationally, in a tough first-set tiebreaker on the top court, Mesochoritou, playing beside her, decided she had to flip a switch. She won the first set 6-1 at No. 3 singles, then dropped the second, 2-6. She broke Leonie Schuknecht to win the set 6-1 and clinch the match.
Mesochoritou adjusted before the third set. She told herself that while she wasn’t playing her best tennis, she needed to run down every ball and force her opponent into mistakes.
“It wasn’t my best tennis, not even close to what I usually play,” she said of her second set, “but when you play for something bigger than yourself, you have to figure out a way to win a match. I just figured out a way and did it for the team.”
With the win clinched, Miller’s match against No. 10 Alexa Noel, who won the first set, 7-6, after taking the tiebreak, 13-11, was abandoned, as were the matches involving Brown on No. 4, which stood at 6-4, 3-5, and Lily Jones on No. 5, which was 4-6, 6-3, 1-1.
This will be the second time Michigan and Pepperdine will meet this season. The Wolverines defeated then-No. 8 Pepperdine, 4-2, on March 10 in Ann Arbor.
“It was inside, we were at home, but we feel good against any team in the country,” Bernstein said. “If we play the way we can and compete the way we do and tough like we are, we’re going to give ourselves a shot.”
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