A model of consistency, the Michigan women’s tennis team is no stranger to winning. A 21-game win streak, Big Ten Tournament Champions, undefeated record in conference play and No. 3 seed nationally are all things to boast about. But when an NCAA Tournament loss comes, all of those accolades become secondary.
And in the NCAA Quarterfinals against No. 6 Pepperdine (21-6) Friday, that’s exactly what happened. In an instant, the Wolverines’ (29-4) dominant season came to a close as the Waves washed away their tournament hopes.
“We didn’t play great today,” Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein said. “I don’t know why. We just weren’t great in some spots today. I haven’t seen us lose a match like that in a long time where we just really weren’t in it, from the doubles to the start of singles.”
The Wolverines had been here before, in fact in the same exact spot. Almost a year ago to the day, Michigan fell victim to then-No. 3 Georgia in Lake Nona, Fla., losing 4-0 in a match that was never truly close.
So as the Wolverines walked onto the court Friday in Stillwater, Okla., they knew what the stakes were. Win, and a ticket was punched to the Final Four. Lose, and the season was over. With five of the six players who played in that fateful match against the Bulldogs last year — many of whom are now seniors — back on the court for Michigan against Pepperdine, a repeat of their previous failures wasn’t an option. With a chip on their shoulders and an earlier victory over the Waves this season, it seemed that the Wolverines had an upper hand.
But despite the confidence Michigan walked in with, it was evident that its match against Pepperdine was a mirror-image of the one against Georgia. On court No. 1, seniors Kari Miller and Jaedan Brown — the Wolverines’ best doubles pairing — simply didn’t come to play. They handed the Waves an early break point that set them behind 3-1 and never caught back up. One court over, freshmen Piper Charney and Reese Miller also found themselves playing catch up after dropping a break early and eventually fell as well, 6-3. And in just under 40 minutes, Michigan was already in a 1-0 hole.
Charney was determined to turn the tides, though. In a stellar first set, she picked apart her opponent’s serve, winning a majority of return points in order to pick up crucial breaks. Cementing her lead with a dominant service game, Charney closed out a seamless first set. From there, Charney left her opponent in the dust en route to a quick 6-1, 6-4 victory in singles to knot the score at one apiece.
Despite Charney’s strong play, the Wolverines didn’t rise to her level. In fact, they fell right back into their early hole. Senior Gala Mesochoritou’s match was next to conclude, but instead of building on the momentum, she faltered. After dropping a late break in the first set, she never regained her footing, dropping the next five games to find herself in an insurmountable 5-0 second-set mess. Regardless of Mesochoritou’s best efforts to rebound, taking the next two games, the match was already over.
“They were fighting,” Bernstein said. “I think we fought hard. You could tell we were trying to hold on there but just didn’t have our best tennis tonight. If we could have come through in a few of those moments, maybe we could have put a little more pressure on them and split some sets to get to thirds. The fight was there but just couldn’t get it done.”
And from here on out, the advantage was completely in Pepperdine’s favor. Soon after Mesochoritou’s match ended, sophomore Lily Jones also walked off the court with a loss, sending Michigan into a two-match deficit. Just four minutes had passed since Charney’s match ended, and in that short timespan, the momentum completely flipped out of the Wolverines’ hands.
With its back against the wall, Michigan needed its remaining three matches to go in their favor to earn a comeback victory. And for a moment, it seemed like the Wolverines were trending in that direction, as each of the remaining matches could go either way. With a 5-2 lead in the second set against Janice Tjen, Kari seemed prime to take her match into a decisive third. But instead of closing out the set, she had an epic collapse, dropping the next five games to lose the set and match. As Tjen’s volley winner sent the Waves into celebrations, Kari and the rest of the Wolverines walked off in despair.
“It would have been nice to have played a better match today, but we have good kids who care a lot,” Bernstein said. “They are hurting now.”
And just like last year, the Wolverines’ swan song came in the NCAA Quarterfinals as they walked off the court, crumbling when it mattered the most. And whether it was in Lake Nona or Stillwater, Michigan just couldn’t push the needle further.
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