TL;DR
The 12th-ranked Michigan women's tennis team, with a record of 21-6, faces No. 5 North Carolina in the Sweet 16 after overcoming a rough start to the season. They have won 20 of their last 22 matches and are the Big Ten champions.
The grittiest teams, it seems, are the ones that dealt with challenges early in a season and then found a spark, that little difference that had been missing, to become among the more dangerous opponents in the postseason.
After a rough start to the season, the 12th-ranked Michigan women’s tennis team (21-6) is playing in the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight year and will face No. 5 North Carolina (26-3) on Friday afternoon at the Tar Heels’ Chewning Tennis Center. The Wolverines hosted first- and second-round NCAA Tournament matches last weekend and had a gritty 4-2 win over No. 17 Florida to advance to this super regional. Last season, Michigan hosted two weekends and made the Final Four for the first time in program history.
“We're in a little bit of a different position this year just because the start to our season was rough,” Piper Charney, who ranks No. 8 nationally in singles, said Thursday. “We were losing to great teams, but we were at one point No. 76 in the country, so I think we're a little bit impressed and proud of ourselves. We’re at the Round of 16, we did get to host first and second rounds and we’re Big Ten champs. What we've done is so impressive up to this point. There's definitely an air of, let's keep showing how far we've come, whereas normally we're defending home turf. That's a good little chip on our shoulder this year.”
More: Michigan women's tennis emerges from 'rock bottom' to host NCAA Tournament rounds
The Wolverines started the season 1-4 but have since won 20 of their last 22 matches. They won a share of the Big Ten regular-season title and won the Big Ten Tournament and then advanced in the NCAA Tournament winning their first two rounds.
“We're just playing much more as a team,” Charney said. “As bad as it looks like it's getting out there — we've lost four first (singles) sets to Michigan State, we've lost four first sets to Florida last week, we've been down against Maryland, we've lost doubles points — we've been in all those positions and come out on top. It's like we know now what we're capable of, even if other people are still doubting us.”
Even during the early-season struggles, Michigan had consistent performances from Reese Miller. She’s 31-9 this season and leads the team with 20 dual-match wins. Miller was 2-0 last weekend and was first off the court against Florida with a straight-set win.