The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com WOMEN'S TENNIS Blue advances to Sweetl6 By CARLY BODDY "It has been an incredible four years had a great year," Michigan coach For the Daily with this program." Ronni Bernstein said. "We felt good Muresan is ranked eighth in the going in, but you've got to go out and A confident crowd came out to nation, and will also be competing play and compete every time. Today, watch the first two rounds of the individually this coming weekend. we did that. I'm happy for the girls, NCAA Ann Arbor Regional this She was joined by freshman Sam and especially for the seniors." weekend. And the Michigan faithful Critser and sophomore Mimi Nguy- Michigan will head to take on went away happy. en in adding singles wins to their No. 7 Miami in the Sweet 16 this With a 4-0 win over Akron on doubles point, sending the Wolver- Friday. The Wolverines faced the D i )oubles point dooms M' in season finale 40 Saturday and a 4-1 finish against Tulsa on Sunday, the eight mem- bers of the No. 10 Michigan wom- en's tennis team will head to Palo Alto, Calif. for the remainder of the NCAA Tournament. Against the Zips at the Var- sity Tennis Center, the Wolverines secured the doubles point with a win from seniors Rika Tatsuno and Whitney Taney and another vic- tory from the senior-freshman duo of Denise Muresan and Brooke Bolender. Bolender and Muresan will also be competing in California as a dou- bles team. With four seniors say- ing their goodbyes to the Michigan program, performing one final time will be bittersweet for the fresh- man-senior doubles team. "I'm excited for California, but I really can't believe this was my last home match," Muresan said Sunday. ines to a convincing victory over Akron. On Sunday, the Wolverines continued to face a talented Gold- en Hurricane squad in the second round of the Regional. Against No. 22 Tulsa, Michigan won the doubles point for the sec- ond day in a row, with Taney and Muresan taking the first two singles points to give Michigan a 3-1 lead. Minutes later, they were joined by a victorious Critser to finish up with a win at home - and effectively punch their ticket to Palo Alto. Following Crister's game-win- ning point, the team gathered around her to sing a round of 'The Victors' before walking off of the court of their last home match this season. For seniors Muresan, Taney and Tatsuno, the 4-1 win over the Golden Hurricane marked their final performance inAnn Arbor. "Tulsa was a great team and they Hurricanes earlier this season in Coral Gables, Fla., where they were defeated 4-3. "It definitely wasn't our best tennis," said Muresan of their first meeting with Miami. The team will head out to Califor- nia early this week to start prepar- ing in hopes to advancing to the next round of competition the following Sunday. That matchup, as well as the remainder of the tournament, will be held at Stanford in Palo Alto. Michigan traveled to the final site of the tournament last year, but was eliminated with a 4-0 loss to Ten- nessee. "Last year we went and we were a little overwhelmed," Bernstein said. "We didn't handle it that well, but now we know what it's all about. We got a taste last year and that will be a big help when we head out there this week." ONLY at the Ann Arbor Store! - 1621 S. State St. Saturday, May 21st, 2011 T-Shirts S Sheet Music Artwork Records (TO? Keyboards 0 Posters Books, Music Stands " Instruments { 866.GIVE.TOO and Much, Much More! www.SalArmyThrift.com By ALEX STEINHOFF Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's tennis team has seen its share of success in Durham, N.C. In January, the Wolverines split a pair of matches against Virginia Tech and Duke. Michigan returned a month later to upset then-No. 6 Duke. This time, the Wolverines' trip to Durham was with their season on the line. In order to see the Blue Devils for the third time this sea- son, Michigan needed to beat No. 44 Maryland first on Friday. And Michigan couldn't overcome a strong effort from Maryland, fall- ing 4-2 in the NCAA first round. The Wolverines didn't get the start they wanted - dropping the doubles point once again. The No. 2 duo of sophomores Evan King and Chris Cha started the day with a victory. But the No. 3 team of freshman Barrett Franks and senior Chris Madden fell, leaving the doubles point in the hands of senior Jason Jung and freshman Shaun Bernstein. Despite falling behind early, Jung and Bernstein clawed back to 6-S in the pro-set before fall- ing 8-6. Had Jungwonthe doubles match, he would have inched one win closer to the 90-win plateau for first all-time in Michigan his- tory. Instead, Jung's win total stalled at 88. The loss at No. 1 doubles gave the edge to the Terrapins, who clinched the doubles point and the early 1-0 dual-match lead. "Maryland played well and it's in some way a little replica or microcosm of our season," Michi- gan coach Bruce Berque said. "We lost doubles, and that's been fairly difficult in most of the matches we played, and it catches up to you when you lose doubles over and over again." As singles got underway, the Wolverines started just as theyhad all season. At No. 1, King jumped out to an early first-set lead, cruis- ing to a quick two-set win to knot the dual at 1-1. King's victory gave him win No. 28 in his second year. on the heels of King's finish, freshman Justin Rossi was able to take control of the second set, sending his match to a third set at No.6. But Cha was unable to do the same, as he fell in straight sets at No. 5 singles, surrendering a lead to Maryland in the dual. But the Terrapins wouldn't have the lead for long. Bernstein tied the dual at two by finishinghis strong straight-set match at No. 3 singles. "It was 2-2 for a while, and then hard fought on froln there," King said. "Everyone was doing what they possibly could to win and it was just a battle overall." Ahead 5-4 in the final set, Jung appeared to have a stranglehold on the match. But John Collins fought off Jung to tie the second set at 5 games. Collins went on to win the next game, shifting the pressure back to Jung, and one game away from sending the match to a third set. While Jung was fighting to clinch his match, Rossi dropped his third set in decisive fashion, sending Maryland on top again. This time, the Terrapins were only one match away from advancing. "For a little bit, it looked like we were in pretty good position, but there were a couple unlucky shots here and there," King said. For Michigan to advance to the second round, Jung and FranksE had to win their singles matches. But winnig both matches seemed a daunting task for the Wolverines, as Franks was trailing in his third set by a break and Jung lost the last two games of the second set. Jung and Franks wouldn't go away quietly, though. Franks stormed back to tie the set 4-4 and Jung jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the third set. Despite win- ning three straight games, Franks dropped the ninth game of the set, falling 5-4. At No. 4, Sergio Wyss propelled Maryland to the next round with a three-set thriller, ending Michigan's rollercoaster season. "There weren't big differences, they just won the last momentum6 swing," Berque said. "There were a lot of (turning points) and I can't really point to one moment, but we weren't able to capitalize on opportunities." The Terrapin victory ended not only the Wolverines' season,' but also their hopes of another rematch with Duke, and their hopes of reaching the Sweet 16, something that had been a team goal since the beginning of the season.