One point the difference for women's tennis

By Joe Smith

Daily Sports Writer

One point.

How important could one measly point be?

This past weekend, it meant everything to the Michigan women's tennis team. The Wolverines (1-5 Big Ten, 7-9 overall) lost two crucial matches to conference foes Purdue and Indiana - both by the heartbreaking score of 4-3.

One point.

In these conference matches, three doubles contests are played first, with the team that wins two out of three receiving one point.

On both days, the Wolverines came up short in the doubles competition, which put them behind 1-0 going into singles play.

One point.

This point not only set the momentum for each match, but it also forced the Wolverines to have to win four out of the six singles matches - virtually eliminating any margin for error.

But that's not all. Two key Wolverines, senior Erryn Weggenman and sophomore Jen Vaughn - who have been contributors to both the singles and doubles lineups - were forced to watch from the sidelines. Weggenman just returned to practice this week after being with her family in Portland, Ore. following her brother's death and Vaughn is still hampered by a nagging hip injury which has kept her out of the lineup since early March.

So freshman Jen Duprez and junior Alison Sinclair replaced them at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles slots to help pick up the slack.

And one point.

On Sunday against Indiana, senior co-captain Brooke Hart continued her stellar play, recording her 20th victory at No. 1 singles, with junior Szandra Fuzesi and freshman Joanne Musgrove following suit with wins of their own at spots three and four.

The Hoosiers (5-2, 12-7) bounced back with a victory at the No. 2 slot, handing Michigan senior co-captain Danielle Lund her first loss in her last six matches. The Wolverines were up 3-2 in the seven point dual, needing one more point to clinch victory.

One point.

Meanwhile, Duprez and Sinclair were immersed in grueling three-set matches of their own, matching volley for volley with their opponents.

In the end, the Hoosiers came out on top in both contests, winning the match, 4-3.

This was like a recurring nightmare for the Wolverines, who lost on Saturday to Purdue in similar fashion.

One point was the difference.

The Boilermakers (8-10, 2-4) won the doubles point by taking two out of three contests, forcing the Wolverines to make an uphill climb to victory.

The two conference foes split the singles, but it was not enough as Michigan was one point short once again, 4-3.

This is a familiar problem for the Wolverines, who have found out the hard way how pivotal the doubles point can be.

It's not just one point.

Three times in the conference format, the Wolverines have won the doubles point - they're 3-0 in those matches.

But the other five times it has used this format Michigan has lost the ever-elusive point - it's 0-5 in those matches.

One point.

These losses couldn't have come at a worse time for the Wolverines. Michigan is looking to improve its position in the conference standings in order to receive a better seed for the Big Ten Tournament, which it hosts on April 27-30.

Getting a better seed could possibly lead to a first-round bye, so for the 1-5 Wolverines, these two one-point losses to beatable conference foes are like stabs in the heart - making the last four matches even more vital to the team's season.

"These next four matches are huge," Lund said. "Hopefully we can get better prepared mentally so that we can do some damage in the (Big Ten) Tournament."

Doubles jeopardy

The Michigan women's tennis team has found out the hard way this year how important

doubles competition is. In the eight matches where the Wolverines used the conference

format - three doubles matches are played, with the team who wins two out of three

receiving a point - the doubles point has been indicative of the outcome.

Opponent Doubles outcome Team Result

Depaul won two of three W, 5-2

Western Michigan won two of three W, 5-2 Northwestern lost two of three L, 2-5

Illinois lost all three L, 2-5

Minnesota lost two of three L, 2-5

Michigan State won two of three W, 7-0

Purdue lost two of three L, 3-4

Indiana lost two of three L, 3-4