The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NCAA Championships: women's tennis Michigan Earns Fourth Straight Sweet 16 Trip And Is Eager To Push Forward Sophomore Emina Betkas understands the importance of the cliché to take it one match at a time, but she also can't help but peek ahead, even slightly, to the thought of an Elite Eight or Final Four berth. Under sixth-year head coach Ronni Bernstein, the Wolverines have made six NCAA Tournament appearances and have qualified for the Sweet 16 in each of the past four after knocking off Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and Notre Dame in openinground action May 10-11. They have won four Big Ten regular-season titles and are a program enjoying a consistent level of success — but they desperately want more. "I'm proud of this program, but we're all competitive and we want to take that big step forward, and once again we have that opportu- Sophomore Emina Betkas — who has a 20-4 record at No. 1 nity in front of us," singles this season — and the Wolverines have their sights set Bernstein said. "No on the program's best-ever NCAA finish. photo courtesy michigan athletic media relations one wants our season to end at this point again, and we have a team that everyone believes we can beat UCLA and keep on winning in this tournament." The Bruins are three spots ahead of No. 10 Michigan in the ITA rankings and a year ago played in the national championship, but this U-M team will not be intimidated. The Maize and Blue went 9‑4 against ranked opponents this season, including wins over No. 2 Duke, No. 12 Virginia and No. 14 Northwestern. "I definitely think that Duke match is one that continues to help us because before we go out on the court, we talk about what it will take to win and we