Feb. 14, 2016
By Joanne Norell
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 33 University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team saw its three-match winning streak end Sunday as the Fighting Irish (4-3) fell to No. 8 Michigan 5-2 at the Varsity Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Michigan.
Michigan (5-2) took the doubles point with wins on Courts 1 and 2. Ronit Yurovsky and Kate Fahey handily defeated Irish sophomore Allison Miller and junior Jane Fennelly 6-1 at No. 2, while the 26th-ranked duo of Brienne Minor and Mira Ruder-Hook upset No. 15 senior Quinn Gleason and junior Monica Robinson in a tight 6-4 affair on Court 1. On Court 3, junior Mary Closs and senior Julie Vrabel led Kara Hall and Alex Najarian 5-4, but the match was abandoned.
Two more quick wins gave the Wolverines a 3-0 lead, and they rolled from there. Fahey, ranking at No. 112 in the Oracle/ITA singles poll defeated Miller 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3, while Teona Velehorschi upended Vrabel 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6 to give Michigan a 3-0 lead.
Gleason and Closs forced tiebreakers in the second set on Courts 1 and 4, respectively, but weren’t able to push their matches to three sets. At the No. 1 position, the 17th-ranked Yurovsky defeated No. 44 Gleason 6-1, 7-6(3), while Ruder-Hook beat Closs 6-2, 7-6(3) at No. 4.
The remaining matches both went to three sets, with Fennelly and Najarian battling on Court 5 and Robinson tangling with No. 14 Minor at the No. 2 position. With the match already in hand for Michigan, Fennelly and Najarian played a 10-point tiebreaker set, with Fennelly giving the Irish their first point in a 6-3, 5-7, 10-3 victory.
Robinson and Minor played a full third set, having begun before the match was decided, with Robinson taking a 3-1 lead before Minor broke back and evened things at 4-4. Robinson held in the next game, though, and picked up the decisive break to complete the upset 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, giving the Irish their second point.
The Irish will play next on Wednesday when they visit No. 51 Purdue at the Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Indiana, before returning home for a pair of matches next weekend. The Irish will host No. 63 Indiana at 11 a.m. ET Saturday and Louisville at 2 p.m. ET Sunday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
No. 8 Michigan 5, No. 33 Notre Dame 2
SINGLES
1. No. 17 Ronit Yurovsky (UM) def. No. 44 Quinn Gleason (ND) 6-1, 7-6(3)
2. Monica Robinson (ND) def. No. 14 Brienne Minor (UM) 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
3. No. 112 Kate Fahey (UM) def. Allison Miller (ND) 6-2, 6-1
4. Mira Ruder-Hook (UM) def. Mary Closs (ND) 6-2, 7-6(3)
5. Jane Fennelly (ND) def. Alex Najarian (UM) 6-3, 5-7, 10-3
6. Teona Velehorschi (UM) def. Julie Vrabel (ND) 6-2, 6-3
DOUBLES
1. No. 26 Brienne Minor / Mira Ruder-Hook (UM) def. No. 15 Quinn Gleason / Monica Robinson (ND) 6-4
2. Ronit Yurovsky / Kate Fahey (UM) def. Allison Miller / Jane Fennelly (ND) 6-1
3. Mary Closs / Julie Vrabel (ND) vs. Kara Hall / Alex Najarian (UM) 5-4, unfinished
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.