Michigan women's tennis digs deep, rallies past Virginia to reach NCAA quarterfinals

Ann Arbor — Michigan women’s tennis coach Ronni Bernstein has said repeatedly that, from top to bottom, her team is strong and capable of winning at any spot in singles.

The No. 5-ranked Wolverines proved that against Virginia in a comeback victory in the NCAA Tournament Super Regional before a raucous crowd at the Varsity Tennis Center on Saturday.

Michigan defeated No. 12 Virginia 4-2 to advance to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the second time in program history. The Wolverines (25-3) will face No. 4 Georgia (25-4), which advanced with a 4-1 victory over Oklahoma, on Wednesday at the USTA National Campus in Florida. They have won 14 straight matches.

“I’m just happy for the girls,” an emotional Bernstein said. “I like this group a lot. And we haven’t done this in a while to make it to the quarters. We’ve achieved so much and I just didn’t want it to be over today, especially at home. We had an amazing crowd. You saw a little bit of nerves from everybody, but I really am excited how we stepped up in singles. We are tough to beat.”

The seventh-ranked Michigan men’s team also advanced to the Elite Eight with a 4-3 victory over No. 10 USC on Friday, as senior Ondrej Styler clinched the match in a tiebreaker. The men, who play Thursday, attended the women’s match and were loudly cheering.

Bernstein said she thought her players were dealing with some nervousness and were flat during doubles, losing the point. Trailing 1-0, the Wolverines needed four singles-court wins to take the match.

The Wolverines were sagging early in the singles matches and Virginia built a 2-0 lead before Kari Miller won 6-4, 6-4 on Court 1. Lily Jones on No. 5 won 6-1, 6-4 to tie the match at 2-2. Jaedan Brown took No. 2 singles with a gritty 6-4, 6-3 performance to give the Wolverines a 3-2 lead, and for the second straight tournament match, Gala Mesochoritou on No. 6 clinched the victory with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 comeback

“I have a ton of confidence in Gala,” Bernstein said. “She’s sometimes a slow starter, but she’s such a good player at 6. She competes really hard. I’d like her to win the first set, but if she’s not going to, let’s take it to three, and I’ll put my money on Gala every time.”

Brown made it interesting in her match having to fight back from deficits in both sets. She trailed 1-4 in the first set before winning five games to take the set. The next set she trailed 0-3 before winning the next six games. Down 1-4, Brown said she wasn’t feeling well when Bernstein brought her a salt packet.

“Watching the guys (play a nail-biter Friday) honestly made me really nervous, so I did not eat much before the match,” Brown said. “But once it was 1-4, I was like, ‘Look, this could be our last match and I know our team could go all the way.’ I didn’t want it to end like that. I want to give everything for my team and that’s what I was telling myself. Also, I was chugging fluids and my Gatorade and all my little snacks, trying to feel better physically and it ended up helping.”

Bernstein, sitting to Brown’s left while talking to a small group of reporters, said that was an example of the grittiness of this team.

“Look how this one fought,” Bernstein said, referring to Brown. “She’s telling me she wants to throw up, Gala’s telling me she wants to throw up. They care so much. It’s deep in the pit of their stomach. They wanted it so bad. They have a lot of pride in our program. We deserve to be in the final eight and I think we can keep going.”

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