MSU freshman Whitney Wilson volleys against Michigan’s Lindsey Howard on Wednesday afternoon at MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. Wilson lost her match 6-3, 6-1.
Editor’s note: This story has been changed to accurately reflect the match’s results.
Despite wins against Iowa and Minnesota last weekend, the MSU women’s tennis team couldn’t continue its streak as it suffered a 6-1 loss against Michigan on Wednesday at MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
Head coach Erika Perkins was disappointed by the loss, as she felt the Spartans had potential that went untapped.
“In doubles, we had some opportunities at No. 1 and No. 2, but maybe we hung back when we got up in games,” Perkins said. “And if you play a little bit too conservative in doubles, you probably aren’t going to win the matches, so it gives us some things to work on in the next couple of days.
“In singles, we had a couple of good individual performances, but we’ve got to be a little bit more competitive at every position if we want to be a solid team, and Michigan is a very solid team.”
The Wolverines swept doubles entirely, winning all three matches and gaining the doubles point.
The Spartans faced similar issues in singles with Michigan winning five of the six matches. Noe and junior Stephanie Kebler entered tiebreakers against U-M’s Denise Muresan and Taney. Kebler defeated Taney 3-6, 6-3, (10-1) to gain a point for the Spartans, but Noe lost her tiebreaker 11-9.
While the enthusiasm against their rival was present, the ending was a let down for the team, Kebler said.
“We all were pretty excited to get a chance at Michigan and we were all pretty pumped up for the match,” she said. “Everyone wanted to win and everyone wanted to come out and compete hard, and I think we just came up a little short.”
While senior captain Christine Bader lost her singles and double matches, the team’s approach to matches is equal parts attitude and skill.
“As a team, we all believe in each other and we all really know we’re a good team and we’ve just got to take care of our courts, take care of our worlds, help each other out and we can win those matches,” Bader said.
The team soon will get a chance to put this into action — the competition only increases for the Spartans as they face Northwestern on April 19, but Perkins said the team will apply the lessons from its match against U-M to their upcoming opponents.
“If we’re in a match, our focus is to improve in that match and be better tennis players coming out of it and the same thing going into practice,” Perkins said. “The hope is, the more experience this team gets, the better we’ll play.”
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