By Nita Srivastava
Daily Sports Writer
Game ... set ... match, Wolverines.
So it was for the Michigan women's tennis team after the Wolverines upset Wisconsin and Northwestern in their first dual matches of the season.
The Wolverines, ranked 42nd in the nation, and fifth in the Midwest, defeated the defending Big Ten champion Badgers on their home turf in Madison, 5-2, on Friday. Michigan went into the match as a definite underdog, as Wisconsin came into the contest ranked No. 10 in the latest ITA Rolex Collegiate Tennis Ranking.
Michigan senior Sarah Cyganiak led singles play with her upset over third-ranked Melissa Zimpfer, 6-4, 6-2.
"I was mentally prepared for the match," Cyganiak said. "I knew I had nothing to lose, and I was just loving playing."
The Wolverines dominated the Badgers in singles, as all three of the freshmen won, with Erryn Weggenman and Danielle Lund proving easily victorious, 6-2, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-0, respectively. Brooke Hart came back from a set down to win, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
"I started off slow, but was able to put everything together at the end of the match," Lund said.
Junior Sora Moon also had an easy victory, defeating Wisconsin's Barbara Urbanska, 6-1, 6-4.
The doubles portion of the competition was where Michigan fell short, losing two of the three matches. However, the tandem of Michigan junior Jen Boylan and Weggenman managed an 8-3 victory.
"Wisconsin has really solid doubles teams," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "The real story is how well we did in singles. We played really smart and fought hard ... Wisconsin was shocked."
Michigan followed Friday's upset with another big victory later in the weekend. Sunday was a day of comebacks and confidence in Evanston, as the underdog Wolverines took on the 24th-ranked Wildcats - third in the Midwest - and won, 4-3.
"It was the most exciting college tennis match that I have ever seen," said Ritt.
The tandem of Lund and Hart proved to be the deciding match of the competition, coming back from a 3-7 deficit to gain an 8-8 tie. The duo was down 1-6 in the tiebreaker, but stayed in the match, saving numerous match points to come back to win, 12-10. The final score of the match was 9-8.
"We really dug down, got our concentration back, and tied it all together," Lund said.
Moon also demonstrated her strength with a close three-set match score of 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, against Northwestern's Laura Guignon.
Ritt said the Wolverines are thriving on the dual-match format, which bodes well for the upcoming season.
"We're handling the pressure exceptionally well," Ritt said. "The freshmen are performing more like returning players than like freshmen."
Cyganiak said that she and her teammates are brimming with confidence after the upsets.
"We can beat anyone, and I am looking forward to seeing how we fare this season," she said.
FILE PHOTO
Senior Sarah Cyganiak led the Michigan women's tennis team to upsets over No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 24 Northwestern over the weekend. The Wolverines beat the Badgers, 5-2, and the Wildcats, 4-3.