Michigan women’s tennis falls in NCAA Singles Tournament

For the first time in Michigan 
history, three Wolverines were 
going to Orlando to compete in 
the NCAA Singles Tournament. 
However, with the three girls 
all ranked top-50 in the country, 
none of them made a serious run 
in the tournament. 
Seniors Kate Fahey and Brienne 
Minor, who also teamed up in the 
doubles tournament, made their 
third appearance in the NCAA 
singles tournament, while junior 
Chiara Lommer made her debut. 
Fahey was the No. 3 seed for the 
singles tournament, the highest 
seeding a Michigan player had 
ever earned. Her tournament 
performance, however, was quite 
uncharacteristic. 
Fahey, 
on 
a 

record-breaking winning streak, 
fell short to North Carolina’s Sara 
Daavettila on Monday.
She 
dropped 
a 
three-set 
match to bring an end to her 
incredible singles 
career. Fahey is 
Michigan’s 
all-
time 
leader 
in 
singles wins (132) 
and 
winning 
percentage 
(.815) 
after a 38-6 senior 
season.
She lost, 6-3, in 
the first set, but 
broke serve to start 
the second before 
holding off two break points in 
her next service game. She then 
kept the distance the rest of the 
way, wrapping up a 6-4 win in the 
second set to even the match. 

The third set, briefly interrupted 
due to heat caution, went back and 
forth until Fahey lost four straight 
games, eliminating her from the 
tournament. 
Minor returned 
to 
the 
singles 
tournament 
for 
the first time since 
winning the 2017 
NCAA 
singles 
title. She defeated 
No. 
48-ranked 
Olivia Hauger of 
California, 
6-1, 
6-4, 
to 
advance 
past 
the 
first 
round.
It was all Minor in the first 
set as she raced out to a 3-0 lead 
and never looked back in the 
6-1 first-set win. But she found 
herself in a 4-1 hole in the second 

before stringing together five 
consecutive games to pull out the 
victory.
The next round, Minor battled a 
hard-fought match, but ultimately 
fell to Illinois’ Asuka Kawai, 
ending her singles career at 
Michigan. 
Lommer notched the first upset 
of Monday, defeating No. 4-ranked 
Ingrid Gamarra Martins from 
South Carolina. Lommer had a 
timely break in the first set, going 
up 4-3. Riding the momentum 
from there, she came away with a 
6-3 first-set win. She then battled 
out the second set to win it, 6-3, as 
well. 
“Everyone is super good in that 
tournament,” Lommer said. “I 
knew that whoever I was going to 
play in the first round was going 
to be a tough match. I was pretty 

excited to see how I was going to 
compare — you know, she plays 
(No.) 1 for a top SEC team, so I just 
wanted to see how I would level 
up against her. Honestly, I felt 
pretty good.”
Though 
she 
lost 
in 
the 
next round to Hawaii’s Petra 
Melounova, 6-4, 6-1, Lommer is 
optimistic for her final year and 
her career ahead. 
“I think that I’m definitely 
ready for the challenge,” Lommer 
said. “I’m going to work on some 
areas of my game to make sure I’m 
totally ready for the transition. I’m 
excited. Of course I’m nervous, 
like, it’s always a big deal to try 
and play higher, but I’m definitely 
more excited than nervous. It’s 
a great opportunity and can 
hopefully transition to playing 
after school.”

SHIRA ZISHOLTZ
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan finishes runner-up in National Championship run

When you think about fairytale 
endings to a doubles career, this is 
just about as close as you can get. 
Michigan senior duo Kate Fahey 
and Brienne Minor played their first 
and last NCAA doubles tournament 
together this past weekend, and, 
against all odds, finished second in 
the nation. 
Going 
into 
the 
tournament 
unranked and being seeded to play 
some extremely tough pairs, Fahey 
and Minor were just along for the 
ride. 
“We came into the tournament 
unseeded, so I thought we came in 
there without any pressure,” Minor 
said. “I don’t think anyone expected 
anything from us, so we kind of came 
in relaxed. We were just having fun 
on the court, especially being seniors, 
it was our last tournament together. 
We went out there and had fun and 
played to our strengths and did what 
we do best.”
Added Fahey: “(Minor) and I 
didn’t even know if we were going to 
get in. I mean, it was kind of on the 
fence, so we were just happy to get 
into the tournament. It’s a really huge 
tournament with the best players in 
the country, so we were really happy 
we got the last opportunity to play 
with each other. And I think we 

really just went one match at a time. 
We didn’t look forward, we didn’t 
look through anyone. We knew each 
match was going to be tough, and we 
really took care of it in each match.”
In their first tournament game, 
Fahey 
and 
Minor 
came 
away 
with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Virginia’s 
17th-ranked Meghan Kelley and Sofia 
Munera to advance the round of 16. 
The Wolverine pair went up a break 
at 2-1 and that was all it needed to 
take a first set win, 6-1.
Michigan grabbed an early 2-0 
lead before Virginia evened the 
match at two. Fahey held her next 
time back at the service line, with 
another Wolverine break to follow 
for a 4-2 lead. With the momentum 
in its favor, Michigan won the final 
two games to take a 6-2 lead. The 
Wolverines broke the Cavaliers in the 
final game, winning a deuce point to 
send Michigan to the second round.
The 
next 
round 
featured 
a 
matchup with 11th-ranked Elysia 
Bolton and Jada Hart of UCLA. 
Michigan took an early lead, then 
came through on two deuce points 
for a strong 4-2 advantage. Fahey 
and Minor got another break and 
then served out the set in the ensuing 
game for a 6-2 first-set win.
In the second set, the points went 
back and forth, allowing the Bruins 
to tie at three. The Wolverines then 
grabbed two break points on UCLA’s 

serve in the ninth game of that set. 
Tied at 5-4 with the opportunity to 
serve, the Bruins were able to break 
the Wolverines in the next game, 
tying the set at 5. The second set 
was sent into a tiebreaker. It was 
all Michigan in the breaker as the 
Wolverines won the first two points. 
That was all the distance Fahey and 
Minor needed to take a 7-2 win.
The victory made Fahey and Minor 
the first Michigan duo to advance 
to the quarterfinals of the doubles 
tournament in program history. By 
advancing to the quarterfinals, Fahey 
and Minor solidified All-American 
doubles honors.
Down to the round of eight, Fahey 
and Minor faced Georgia’s No. 28 
Katarina Jokic and Lourdes Carle. 
The first set featured three breaks of 
serve to start before Michigan held 
at love for a 3-1 lead. Both teams held 
serve the next time back before the 
Wolverines dominated off the deuce 
point of the Bulldogs’ serve for a big 
5-2 advantage. Michigan served out 
the set in the next game and secured 
a 6-2 win.
The second set started just like the 
first one did — the teams exchanged 
breaks to start. Georgia quickly 
capitalized for an early 3-1 lead. The 
Wolverines got the break right back, 
winning the deuce point on the 
Bulldogs’ next service game to get the 
ball back on their side, winning the 

point and tying at three. Georgia held 
on its serve and then broke Michigan 
on the deuce point to take a 5-3 lead. 
The Bulldogs won the next game 
to take the second set and send the 
match to a 10-point tiebreaker third 
set.
The Wolverines gained control 
early in the breaker set, grabbing a 
5-2 lead. Michigan held four match 
points following a 9-5 advantage, but 
Georgia answered back with three 
straight points to close the gap to 
just a point at 9-8. Michigan came 
through on the next point to wrap up 
a 10-8 win for the match.

Down to the Final Four, Minor 
and Fahey punched their ticket to 
the national championship match 
with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 3 Ingrid 
Gamarra Martins and Mia Horvit of 
South Carolina.
The Wolverines raced out to a 3-0 
lead in the first set and never looked 
back. The Gamecocks got on the 
board at 3-1, which ignited a run of 
four straight holds between the two 
teams. But Michigan came away with 
the final three points to win, 6-2.

SHIRA ZISHOLTZ
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Seniors Brienne Minor (left) and Kate Fahey (right) finished second in the nation.

Michigan women’s tennis team makes up for poor singles showing with a deep doubles tournament run 

“Everyone 
is super 
good in that 
tournament.”

10

Thursday, May 30, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

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