McElveen Comeback Gives Women's Tennis Upset Over Michigan
3/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
After five hours and forty-minutes of play, Natalie McElveen finally clinched the win for Alabama with a 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 win at No. 6 singles.
“I never would have guessed that today would be my day,” McElveen said.
McElveen entered a second set tiebreaker knowing the match rested solely on her shoulders. Already down a set, McElveen won the first three points of the tiebreaker before Michigan’s Allie Shafner evened things up. But McElveen held strong and won the final four points to force a third and final set. The match swung Alabama’s favor when McElveen broke Shafner to take a 4-3 lead. She then held her serve twice down the stretch to clinch the upset for ??Bama.
“I felt like I was down and out until the middle of the second set,” McElveen said. “But then a few points fell my way and all of a sudden it was a whole new match. It reminded me a lot of the Tennessee match from a year ago.”
Last season McElveen pulled through at No. 6 singles to defeat Tennessee in Tuscaloosa, 4-3.
Alabama got off to a good start by winning the doubles point for the fifth time in its last six matches. The Tide then carried the momentum into singles where Robin Stephenson and Ashley Bentley pushed the Tide out to a 3-0 lead with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles respectively. But ??Bama knew it needed to find one more win.
After Shelley Godwin, Mari Muller and Andrea Brenes all fell in straight sets, it was up to Natalie McElveen to pull out the win.
Since starting the season 2-5, Alabama hasn’t lost since and has upped its record to 7-5 overall and jumped nearly 20 places in the Fila/ITA rankings. Sunday’s win will surely help propel the Tide in next week’s rankings, to be released on Tuesday.
Although Alabama grabbed the doubles point, it wasn’t without drama of its own. Doubles came down to what Mari Muller and Melissa Day could do on court two. The duo was able to put itself up a break midway through the pro-set and carried the lead late into the match. Up 7-6 however, and serving for the doubles point, Michigan’s Shafner and Chisako Sugiyama broke serve to even the match. But Muller and Day came right back and broke their opponents to give themselves a second opportunity to serve for the match. This time they didn’t squander the opportunity.
Alabama will move back into conference play next weekend when it travels to play Tennessee Friday afternoon and returns home to host Georgia on Sunday.
Match Results
Michigan vs Alabama
Mar 19, 2006 at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
#35 Alabama 4, #22 Michigan 3
Singles competition:
1. #11 Robin Stephenson (UA) def. Kara Delicata (MICH) 6-0, 6-3
2. Ashley Bentley (UA) def. Nina Yaftali (MICH) 6-2, 6-2
3. Elizabeth Exon (MICH) def. Mari Muller (UA) 6-3, 6-1
4. Debra Streifler (MICH) def. Shelley Godwin (UA) 6-1, 6-4
5. Chisako Sugiyama (MICH) def. Andrea Brenes (UA) 6-4, 6-4
6. Natalie McElveen (UA) def. Allie Shafner (MICH) 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
Doubles competition:
1. #16 Robin Stephenson/Ashley Bentley (UA) def. Kara Delicata/Debra Streifler (MICH) 8-4
2. Mari Muller/Melissa Day (UA) def. Allie Shafner/Chisako Sugiyama (MICH) 9-7
3. Lindsey Howard/Nina Yaftali (MICH) def. Natalie McElveen/Andrea Brenes (UA) 8-3
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,1,4,3,5,6)
