Beniers, Power selected to play in World Championships

Michigan falls to Pepperdine 4-0 in round of 16

Michigan will have the chance to 

see a couple of its young stars compete 
for their national teams later this 
month. 

On Thursday, it was announced 

that 
freshman 
forward 
Matty 

Beniers would be suiting up for Team 
USA at the 2021 International Ice 
Hockey Federation (IIHF) World 
Championships — taking place in 
Riga, Latvia. Beniers will be joined 
at the tournament by freshman 
defenseman Owen Power, who was 
named to Team Canada’s roster. 

The collegiate teammates will now 

face-off as international rivals. 

Beniers 
has 
prior 
experience 

playing for Team USA, as he was 
part of the World Juniors team that 
won gold in January. Beniers had a 
quiet tournament, with just one goal 
and two assists, but the experience 
is something that will stick with him 
forever. 

“I think that’s one of the best 

moments of my life so far, definitely 
the 
best 
hockey 
moment 
I’ve 

experienced,” Beniers said in January. 

“It was just an awesome experience 
to play with such great players on 
my team and definitely an awesome 
experience to play with such great 
players against us.”

After helping Team USA win gold 

at World Juniors for the first time 
since 2017, Beniers is hoping to help 
the team end a much longer medal 
drought at the World Championships. 
Team USA has not won gold since 
1960, and most recently won Bronze 
in 2018. 

At just 18 years old, Beniers will be 

the youngest member of Team USA. 
Youth was no issue for Beniers during 
his freshman campaign with the 
Wolverines, as he racked up 10 goals 
and 14 assists on the year and earned 
a spot on the Big Ten all-freshman 
team. He’ll hope to build on his 
Juniors performance and collect the 
second gold medal of his young career. 

Power, meanwhile, will make his 

long-awaited debut for Team Canada. 
The defenseman was expecting to 
compete with Beniers while playing 
for his country at World Juniors but, 
facing the prospects of missing the 
first half of the collegiate season due 
to COVID-19 protocols with the 
Canadian team, Michigan coach 

Mel Pearson made a controversial 
decision to hold Power out of the 
tournament. 

“I think the decision to have me 

stay here and play was fine. I think 
either way it was a good decision,” 
Power said after not going to Juniors. 
“I think just being able to stay here and 

just develop with the team was a good 
decision.”

Chiara Lommer felt the weight of 

the world on her shoulders. 

After dropping her first set 6-1, the 

fifth-year senior was down 5-3, 40-0 
— one point away from Michigan’s 
season and her illustrious career as a 
Wolverine coming to a close. 

Lommer would not go away, 

playing relentless defense to eek out 

two straight points to chip away at a 
nearly insurmountable lead. 

In 
the 
following 
point, 
her 

outstretched backhand sailed just 
wide, giving No. 5 Pepperdine (22-3) a 
4-0 victory over the Wolverines(19-3) 
in the round of 16 at the NCAA Team 
Championship.

Up against a deep, talented singles 

lineup from Pepperdine, the doubles 
point offered the Wolverines the 
opportunity to take an early lead. 

When the No. 3 doubles tandem 

of sophomore Andrea Cerdan and 
senior Bella Lorenzini jumped out 
to a 4-1 advantage, it looked like 
Michigan could do just that.

Yet 
the 
Wolverines’ 
lead 

evaporated, as the Wave’s Jessica 
Failla and Anastasia Lamachkine 
rattled off six straight games to 
steal the doubles point from the 
Wolverines and take a 1-0 lead.

“I thought Pepperdine played 

really well,” Michigan coach Ronni 
Bernstein said. “That’s a team I 
think that could possibly win (the 
Championship). We needed to play 
a perfect match and we did not do 
that.”

At No.1 singles, freshman Kari 

Miller was stacked up against three-
time All-American Ashley Lahey. 
While Miller took advantage of errors 
from Lahey to take an early lead, 
Miller was unable to close, as Lahey 
staved off multiple breakpoints to 
scrap her way to a 6-4 victory in the 
first set.

Despite a deflating loss in the first 

set, Miller came out with vengeance 
in the second set and took control.

“Kari is in every match she plays,” 

Bernstein said. “It’s a little bit that 

she’s young because she was up 40-0 
a couple games in the first set and had 
a lot of opportunities. But Kari at the 
top of the lineup has been incredible 
for us. She’s up in the second set and 
still fighting and the kid she’s playing 
is a fifth-year and was number one in 
the country last year. That just shows 
you what Kari Miller is going to be for 
Michigan.”

Fellow freshman Jaedan Brown 

found herself in an early 3-0 deficit at 
No. 4 singles against Shiori Fukuda. 
After strong play from the baseline 
got her back in the match, Brown’s 
struggles serving lead to a 6-4, 6-1 
defeat. 

The Waves’ Taisiya Pachkaleva 

moved Cerdan all around the court 
to take a dominant 6-0 victory in the 
first at No. 3 singles. 

Cerdan 
kept 
her 
composure, 

jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the 
second set, but Pachkaleva quickly 
retook the lead en route to a 6-3 win. 

At No. 5 singles, Senior Alyvia 

Jones found herself in a back-and-
forth affair against Lisa Zaar. With 
her team falling behind, Jones 
delivered 
a 
dominant 
serving 

performance complemented by 5 aces 
to earn a 6-4 first-set victory, hoping 

to be a catalyst for the rest of the team. 

Jones’ success continued as she 

was leading 5-1 in the second before 
Pepperdine clinched the victory.

“She was so close to getting us a 

point there,” Bernstein said. “She’s a 
great kid and she cares so much about 
our program and fought hard today. 
She’s one that’s asking the score and 
wants to know what’s going on (with 
her teammates).”

As 
Michigan’s 
three 
seniors 

continued to fight to close the Waves’ 
3-0 lead, the weight of the moment 
set in. 

“These guys play tennis for I don’t 

know how long,” Bernstein said. “I 
think they realize it’s the end at some 
point. They’ve done so much for our 
program. They’ve brought so much 
leadership. Bella, Chiara, and Alyvia 
were great Michigan players and are 
going to be part of our program for a 
long time.”

While the seniors will move on, the 

exceptional play from the Wolverines’ 
freshman players throughout the 
season put the rest of women’s tennis 
on notice. This team is young and 
getting better. 

 JOSH TAUBMAN

Summer Managing Sports Editor

 ALEX WALKON
Daily Sports Writer

 MILES MACKLIN/Daily

Matty Beniers, along with teammate Owen Power, will compete in the IIHF World Championships later this month.

Thursday, May 20, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS 15

Read more at michigandaily.com

Read more at michigandaily.com

GRACE BEAL/Daily

Michigan battled but came up short in its Sweet 16 matchup with 
Pepperdine.

