Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
9
Muresan, Bolender doubles pair slip in NCAAs
By MATT SLOVIN
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan senior Denise Mure-
san and freshman Brooke Bolender
ended the Michigan women's tennis
team's 2011 campaign the only way
head coach Ronni Bernstein could
ask for - together.
And even in their last defeat, the
disappointment couldn't erase the
countless Wolverine triumphs.
Playing in the NCAA Individual
Championships in Palo Alto, Calif.,
the two remaining Michigan com-
petitors were bounced from tourna-
ment play in the first two rounds of
singles and doubles action.
Muresan's week started with a
victory in the opening round of sin-
gles competition, but it didn't come
easily. After dropping the first set to
Wake Forest's Martina Pavelec and
trailing 5-4 in the second, the situa-
tion seemed as bleak as the weather
which caused two delays during the
set due to rain.
But for Muresan, the prospect of
ending her season without making a
statement at the tournament wasn't
one she would even consider.
"I went in there a little nervous, a
little tight at the start of the tourna-
ment," Muresan said. "In the third
set, I relaxed and played well."
In the decisive set, Muresan uti-
lized two service breaks to advance
to the next round where Chelsey
Gullickson of Georgia awaited her.
After grabbing an early break,
Muresan then held serve in the
first set to get the early advantage.
But two 6-3 sets later, Gullickson
was through to the round of 16 and
Muresan's singles career as a Wol-
verine was over.
"For individuals, we wanted to
go further than we did," Muresan
said. "We worked really hard but it
just didn't pan out that way. It was a
great year regardless."
But there was little time to reflect
for Muresan, as she and Bolender
were slated to open up their play in
the doubles draw just hours later.
One of the faces across the net was
familiar to Muresan - Gullickson
was again the opponent, this time
partnering with fellow Bulldog,
Kate Fuller.
The Wolverine duo lost key ser-
vice games throughout the match,
leading to its elimination as Georgia
advanced 6-3, 6-2. It was an upset-
ting way for the pair's partnership
to end, as they had accumulated an
impressive 25-7 record this season -
a year that neither partner will soon
forget.
But while Bolender will con-
tinue her Michigan career in just
a few months when the fall season
begins, Muresan has donned Michi-
gan's maize and blue for the last
time of her competitive career. And
although she would have enjoyed a
better finish down the stretch, she
speaks of her time in Ann Arbor
with unparalleled enthusiasm.
"I think a lot of things made it
such a great experience," Mure-
san said. "Our team is really close.
Michigan has so much to offer and
that's what made it such a great
experience."
With the season in the books, the
Wolverines hope next year brings
them closer to their goals, including
a better showing at NCAAs and a Big
Ten Tournament title.
King earns All-American status, drops doubles with Jung
By ALEX STEINHOFF
Daily Sports Writer
Sophomore Evan King and senior
Jason Jung of the Michigan men's
tennis team made plans to stay in
Palo Alto, Calif. for Memorial Day
Weekend. They also had their sights
set on traveling to New York in early
September - the location of the U.S.
Open - where the winner of the
NCAA Individual Championships
earns a wild-card spot.
But those plans were cut short.
King reached the Sweet 16 in
singles - something not done by a
Wolverine in 19 years - before fall-
ing to the No. 5 seed, but not with-
out earning All-American status. In
doubles, King and Jung also reached
the Sweet 16, before bowing out to
the No. 5 seed as well.
In the first round, King upset No.
12 Tim Puetz of Auburn, but Jung
failed to do the same against defend-
ing champion and No. 9 Bradley
Klahn of Stanford, the school play-
ing host for the tournament.
After several hours of a rain delay,
King jumped out to an early 4-1 lead,
breaking Puetz's serve early. But the
Auburn Tiger fought back to trim
King's lead to just one game. At 4-3,
King suddenly turned on the jets. He
cruised to win the next two games,
before winning all six games of the
second set.
The sophomore's victory gave
* Michigan its first win in the NCAA
Individual Championships since
Matko Maravic won his first-round
match four years earlier. King, the
No. 21 seed in the tournament,
would next face Gonzalo Escobar, a
player ranked five spots below him.
Michigan's captain Jung was
unable to reach day two of the tour-
nament in singles with King.
Against the NCAA singles
defending champion, Jung rallied
off three straight games in the first
set to take a 5-3 lead. But Jung was
unable to close out the set twice and
Klahn pushed the set to five games
apiece, before closing out the set in
a competitive tiebreaker which fea-
tured spectacular shots from both
sides. But once the second set start-
ed, Klahn kept the advantage. Klahn
broke Jungto go up 3-2 before cruis-
ing through the next three games
to eliminate Jung from the singles
draw.
King kicked off day two of the
tournament with his singles match
in the morning. King dropped the
first set 6-3 and was broken to open
the second set.
But King responded with a sec-
ond-set victory, pushing the match
to a decisive third set, in which
Michigan's sophomore sensation
never looked back, completing a six-
game rally to win the match.
The win propelled King to the
Sweet 16 and officially earned him
ITA All-American status - an honor
a Wolverine hasn't had in four years.
Just over two hours after King
won to reach the Sweet 16 in singles,
he stepped on the court to do the
same in doubles.
Originally slated to play the No. 1
doubles team from national cham-
pion USC, King and Jung caught
a lucky break, as the Trojan pair
pulled their names from the doubles
draw. Instead the Wolverine duo
played the No. 32 pair in the country
from UCLA, Adrian Puget and Alex
Brigham.
Despite droppinga tough first set,
King and Jung found their stride
winningthe second set before cruis-
ing to a three-set victory 4-6, 6-3,
6-1. The win over the UCLA duo sent
King and Jung to the Sweet 16 for
the second time as a doubles team,
despite not playing together since
April.
Day three of the tournament
started off with King's third-round
singles match against rival No. 5 Blaz
Rola.
Rola claimed the lead early and
eventually took the first set. Rola
broke King again two games later to
take a 3-0 lead and a strangle-hold
on the set and the match.
With the match seemingly in con-
trol, Rola pushed his leadto 5-0 with
stellar serving and solid returns of
serve before closing out the set with-
out dropping a game and closing out
the match in straight sets.
"In this tournament, Evan kind
of made three steps forward and one
step back," Michigan coach Bruce
Berque said. "He lost to a very good
player, but unfortunately it wasn't
his best tennis today."
The loss ended King's singles sea-
son, but King's final 30-9 record was
the best by a Wolverine since 1998.
King later took the court with
Jung for their second-round dou-
bles match against No. 5 Roberto
Maytin and John Peers from Baylor.
Maytin and Peers played the
majority of the first set from behind,
but broke King's serve to knot the
set at five, before holding serve to
Freshman Evan King became the first Wolverine to reach the Sweet 16 in 19 years.
take a 6-5 lead. But the Wolverines Bears.
responded to send the set into a At 5-2, No. 5 Baylor was serving
tiebreaker.Despite fighting off one for the match. Jung missed a fore-
set point, the Wolverines dropped hand into the net at break point,
a back-and-forth tiebreaker to lose missing a golden opportunity to
the first set for the second time in get back into the set. At deuce, the
the tournament. Bears quickly won the next two
"We had a chance to serve out pointst o clinch the game, set, and
the first set but were unable to the match, 7-6, 6-2.
do so, and that was a big turn- As disappointing as the loss was
ing point in the match," Berque for King and Jung, Jung ended his
said. "We had execution problems Michigan tennis career with 89
with first serves and finishing out doubles wins - just one win shy of
some points, and then we got into the all-time record - while King
a tiebreaker and one or two points ended his season with tournament
changed the match." experience and All-American hon-
But unlike the first round, King ors in singles.
and Jung's opponent jumped out to "(King will) be coming back
an early lead, as they broke the Wol- as one of the better players in the
verine pair in the first game of the country and I'm sure he's going to
second set. improve over the summer," Ber-
Later in the set, as King and Jung que said. "I'm looking for him to
were trying to claw back, they were be a great player for us next year at
broken for the second time in the the top of the lineup in singles and
set, surrendering a 4-1 lead to the doubles."