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Women's tennis bests Spartans, 6-1, in East Lansing

In yesterday afternoon's tennis match, Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt found herself opening up a mixed bag of treats.

While putting her hand in for the first time, Ritt could only anticipate three doubles victories. Ritt, however, didn't know what she was getting herself into. She was able to pull out three distinct, but equally pleasing treats. Michigan beat Michigan State, 6-1, last night in East Lansing.

Entering the match, the Wolverine doubles' tandems knew they had to improve upon their recent performances.

Sarah Cyganiak and Sora Moon, playing No. 1 doubles, gave the coach what she was looking for. They took command right from the start and stormed by the Spartan duo of Laura Worzniak and Isabel Oelze, 8-0. The No. 2 doubles match wasn't quite as appealing to Ritt early on. Things got off to a sour start for Angie Popek and Tara Graff as the two seniors fell behind 3-1. They showed great experience, breaking serve to cut the deficit to 3-2. After that, the veterans stayed even with the Spartans' Stacie Bowman and Sarah Hulewicz. Popek and Graff were up, 7-6, when Popek held serve to finish off the match.

"I didn't feel pressure because I held serve in the (entire) match," Popek said.

Ritt couldn't have been happier because one of the most important goals before the match was to hold serve 100 percent of the time.

As the third doubles game was unwrapped, the most exciting part of the afternoon developed. Tumeka Harris and Sibyl Smith played a long match that concluded in a tiebreaker.

To even up the match at 8-8, Harris and Smith faced a tough challenge. Angie Catron and Jamie Tannenbaum had put Michigan State ahead, 8-7, and were on their way to closing out the match. Harris and Smith weren't ready to crumble just yet. They saved three match points and broke Tannenbaum's serve, sending the match to the tiebreaker.

In the tiebreaker, Michigan led, 6-3, before Ritt almost choked on her seemingly delightful treat. Michigan State won the next two points but the Wolverines survived the scare and won the tiebreaker, 7-5. Smith and Harris had worked on attacking aggressively and did so successfully enough to come out on top. They reduced their unforced errors as the match progressed and also seized opportunities for winning shots.

"We played well today," Smith said. "We were a big improvement from San Diego."

Then Ritt reached into the bag once more, pulling out five similar items. In her palm were five convincing singles victories for the Wolverines.

In No. 1 singles, Cyganiak cruised by Hulewicz 6-3, 6-2. Moon put on a clinic, defeating Oelze 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2. The third slot belonged to Harris in her 6-1, 6-2 win over Worzniak.

Ritt's last draw wasn't as appealing as the others. The No. 6 singles match didn't go exactly as Michigan had hoped. Smith lost 6-4, 6-3 to Bowman, bringing a rotten taste to Ritt's mouth. Smith was somewhat happy because she did play better than she had the past few weeks. She was up against a tougher opponent who usually played higher in the lineup. Bowman was saddled with a back injury.