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2010 Women's Tennis Season in Review
June 29, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format The 2010 Big Ten women’s tennis season ended with six conference teams competing for the national team title, while three singles standouts and a trio of doubles pairs competed for their respective crowns at the 2010 NCAA Championships. Regional champions Michigan and Northwestern each advanced to the round of 16 at the championships site in Athens, Ga. Michigan hosted Ohio State in the Ann Arbor Regional final, while Northwestern won the Evanston Regional, which saw Illinois drop its first-round match. Iowa fell in the opening round of the South Bend Regional, and Indiana dropped its opening match in the Knoxville Regional. A pair of Wildcats earned seeds in the NCAA singles draw, with Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova advancing to the round of 16 before falling to the national runner-up. Teammate Samantha Murray won her first-round matchup before bowing out in round two, while Michigan’s Denise Muresan fell in the opening round. In the doubles draw, three conference squads were selected to the field, including Iowa’s Merel Beelen and Sonja Molnar, Michigan’s Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno and Northwestern’s Elena Chernyakova and Lauren Lui. At the Big Ten Tournament, Northwestern laid claim to its 12th consecutive title after defeating top-seeded Big Ten Champion Michigan in the tournament final. The second-seeded Wildcats knocked off No. 7 Ohio State in the quarterfinals, No. 3 Illinois in the semifinals and No. 1 Michigan in the final to earn the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Championships. While Northwestern won the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan won its first Big Ten Championship since 1997 after finishing the conference slate undefeated. Michigan swept the major conference individual awards following the season. Muresan was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year, teammate Mimi Nguyen won Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, and coach Ronni Bernstein was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year by her peers. Following the NCAA Championships, Mosolova and Muresan earned All-America status by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, finishing the season ranked 12th and 18th, respectively.
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