The Terrapins tennis team’s six-game winning streak, its longest since 2011, came to end Sunday when it fell to No. 13 Michigan, 5-2.
The No. 43 Terps (8-5, 2-1) were disappointed with their first loss since Feb. 14, but they plan to use the defeat as motivation as they dive into the bulk of their Big Ten schedule.
“We had a great opportunity today, and we let it get away from us,” coach Daria Panova said. “We’re definitely better than how we played today, but we learned a lot of new things that we can work on.”
The Terps relied on winning the doubles point to get out to an early lead in their previous matches. On Sunday, though, the Terps dropped the doubles point for the first time since Feb. 15.
After winning Friday, senior Welma Luus and sophomore Alexandra Stanova, the Terps’ No. 1 doubles pair, lost, 8-4, Sunday. Their opponent, the Wolverine pair of senior Emina Bektas and freshman Alex Najarian, who are ranked No. 14 in the country, had an answer for the Terps’ powerful strikes, shots that the Terps’ pair had success on in previous matches.
“We definitely had our chances in doubles,” Stanova said. “Every match is different. It’s about the few points, and if you lose them it’s hard to catch up.”
Sophomore Kristina Hovsepyan and freshman Ekaterina Tour were defeated, 8-2, to clinch the doubles point for Michigan.
Though four Terps were defeated in singles Sunday, Stanova claimed her best win of the season, defeating Michigan’s No. 19 junior Ronit Yurovsky in two sets. After losing two consecutive games in the second set, Stanova regained her composure and won the final game, winning 6-4 in the second set after winning the first set.
It was Stanova’s second straight-set victory of the weekend.
“Closing out the match in the manner she did was extremely impressive,” Panova said. “She definitely was focused and consistent throughout the match, and it was a great win from her.”
The Terps’ second point came from junior Olga Bredikhina on the No. 5 court, as she extended her singles winning streak to six matches. The Russian won in a tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets with her opponent. Bredikhina, though, recognizes her play was one of the few positive signs for the Terps in Sunday’s loss.
“We can compete with teams like this,” Bredikhina said. “We need to learn, forget about the loss and keep going.”
The wind gusts got up to 17 mph Sunday when the Terps played their first match on the outside courts in College Park. Panova said the weather might have distracted her team from focusing, which she deemed unacceptable.
But the Terps recognize losing one match might be beneficial, as their weaknesses were exposed. Panova believes those mistakes can be fixed, and she hopes to get revenge on the Wolverines (11-3, 2-0) in the Big Ten championship in April.
“Winning is awesome, but sometimes you have to lose to realize you still have to work on things,” Panova said. “When you are winning, you sometimes tend to take some time off in practice and maybe not work as hard. But I’m sure the girls are upset and want to work harder to make sure we win next weekend.”