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ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 12 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis squad suffered a 4-3 upset by No. 29 Michigan Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
The Wolverines (1-0) were out for revenge following their 6-1 loss to the ‘Dores (2-1) in Nashville last January.
“We did have trouble adjusting to the fast courts, but Michigan played very well,” Vanderbilt Assistant Coach Meike Babel said.
“They did everything they needed to do to beat us. They never went away and their coach got them ready at the right time in the right way.”
The Commodores quickly earned the doubles point with wins from Taka Bertrand and Catherine Newman (8-2) and Courtney Ulery and Liberty Sveke (8-6). Vanderbilt’s No. 1 tandem fell in an 8-7(3) tiebreaker to Michigan’s Kara Delicata and Chisako Sugiyama after the point was decided.
Vanderbilt sophomores Ulery and Sveke fell behind early in the singles contest and were unable to recover. Sveke was the first Commodore to drop in singles, falling 6-2, 6-2 to Michigan’s Tania Mahtani. Ulery followed a few minutes later with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kara Delicata, putting the Wolverines up 2-1.
Bertrand’s 6-0, 6-4 loss to Chisako Sugiyama brought Michigan within one point of the match win.
“Taka played well, she didn’t give in,” Babel said. “She was ready to fight. I wasn’t even worried after the first set because she was playing so hard. Taka never gave her any leeway. But her opponent just played very well.”
The Commodores then countered with two wins to tie the Wolverines. The first, from Caroline Ferrell at No. 6 over Michigan’s Allie Shafner (6-3,6-2) followed by a victory from Catherine Newman at No. 3 over Elizabeth Exon (6-4, 6-1).
The clincher came at No. 1, where Amanda Taylor battled Jenny Kuehn for three sets. Taylor held Kuehn to two games in the first set, but was only able to earn one win in the second. Kuehn finally sealed the win for Michigan with her 6-2 victory in the final set.
The Commodores challenging non-conference schedule will continue tomorrow in South Bend, Ind., where Vanderbilt will face No. 4 Notre Dame who swept Illinois at the Irish season opener on Friday. Vanderbilt will then have a few days off before the ITA National Indoors Tournament Feb. 1-4.
“We are going to have more tough opponents and it’s a choice that the team has to make,” Babel said. “This is where we decide if our loss is going to snowball or realize that rankings don’t mean everything and we have to come out and play every point. This is a great opportunity to get our hats back on, roll up our sleeves and get back to work.”
Results:
No. 29 Michigan 4 No. 12 Vanderbilt 3
Singles
No. 1 — #81 Jenny Kuehn (U-M) d. #42 Amanda Taylor, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 — Chisako Sugiyama (U-M) d. #57 Taka Bertrand, 6-0, 6-4
No. 3 — #24 Catherine Newman (Vanderbilt) d. Elizabeth Exon, 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 — Kara Delicata (U-M) d. Courtney Ulery, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 — Tania Mahtani (U-M) d. Liberty Sveke, 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 — Caroline Ferrell (Vanderbilt) d. Allie Shafner, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 — Delicata/Sugiyama (U-M) d. Ferrell/Taylor, 8-7(3)
No. 2 — Bertrand/Newman (Vanderbilt) d. Kuehn/Shafner, 8-2
No. 3 — Sveke/Ulery (Vanderbilt) d. Exon/Mahtani, 8-6
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-3-1, Singles 5-4-2-6-3-1
