The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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22 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2017 battled back, sweeping the final two sets, 6-3, 6-3, in what she described as her most difficult showdown. "I actually played her in the first round last year at NCAAs, so it was really kind of funny that we played each other again in the first round," Minor observed. "It was a revenge match, I guess. "She's a great player. She doesn't miss. There were a lot of long points, and I started cramping in the third set of that match. That was probably my toughest match." Minor didn't lose another set un- til the semifinals, when she encoun- tered Vanderbilt's Sydney Campbell, the No. 15 seed. Campbell again put Minor on the brink of elimination with a win in the first set, but Minor pushed back to advance and make Michigan women's tennis history. "Sydney is a big hitter, and it was hard to defend her balls," Minor as- sured. "She's a fighter, for sure." So is the U-M sophomore, who waves off any notion about an early sensation that she might just win it all. "I definitely didn't think I could win it until the final match — toward the end of the final match, to be hon- est," she said. "I just had the same mentality going through each match. It was working. "I was like, just stay relaxed, stay how you've been the last couple of matches. Go out there and just play your game." Minor also spent little time before- hand considering what might be. She remained very much in the moment, start to finish. Looking back on it now, she's pleased, but insists she can't afford to have anything but locked-in con- centration, now and in the future. Be- coming the first Michigan woman to win the singles championship never pervaded her thoughts before, and it won't derail her in the future, she insists. "It's really cool," Minor admitted. "I did know that no one had won it in program history, but I didn't focus on that going into the tourna- ment. I knew that would mess with my head. "I tend to not focus on things like that — being the first female, or first African-American to win, or any- thing like that. I just went out there and played. But I'm glad I could go out there and do that for my school." The Best Of The Rest Sophomore Brienne Minor's run to the NCAA singles championship in tennis stands out among all U-M efforts over the past year. A host of other women stepped up in a huge way for the Maize and Blue as well. Here's a look: 1. Erin Finn, cross country/track — Finn is, quite simply, the best distance runner cross country coach M ike McGuire has ever seen at Michigan. That's saying something, given that he's been around since the 1970s. Finn's runner-up finish at NCAA Champion- ships in cross country last fall led a U-M surge that left the Wolverines just a point shy of a team national championship. She also finished second nationally in the 5,000-me- ter run at the NCAA Indoor Championships in track. She became the first colle- gian to clock a pair of times better than 15:30 in the indoor 5,000 in two con- secutive NCAA meets, but missed the outdoor post- season. 2. Jamie Phelan, cross country/track — Phelan won the 2017 Big Ten and NCAA titles in the outdoor 1,500 meters, but that wasn't all she did. The Ca- nadian competed on the All-America distance med- ley relay squad that placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and then she took third in the Big Ten for the outdoor 800 me- ters with a career-best time. She was also a crucial scorer for the cross country squad that matched its program-best national finish by placing second at NCAAs and won the Big Ten crown. 3. Nicole Artz, gymnastics — The Big Ten Gymnast of the Year dominated much more than her own conference. Artz soared to second-team All-America status on the bars and floor exercise, after earning an NCAA Regional champion- ship on the beam (9.925). The Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient and finalist for the AAI Award (the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country) finished off a career that saw her lead the Wolverines to four straight Big Ten championships while becoming an eight-time All-American. 4. Gina Sereno, cross country/track — Her year started by helping U-M to its historic finish on the cross country course, placing fourth at Big Tens, eighth at Regionals and 30th at NCAAs to earn her first All-America honor in the sport. She then became a first-team All-American for her work on Michigan's indoor distance medley relay squad, and garnered second-team All-America honors for the 5,000-meter outdoor and 3,000-meter indoor. The 15th-place showing in the 5,000 at NCAAs was her only loss of the outdoor season after six straight wins. The redshirt junior earned three Big Ten titles on the year, giving her five so far in her career, and she swept the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the conference meet for the second straight year, becoming the first to so since 1989-90. — John Borton Erin Finn led the cross country team's historic runner-up showing with a second-place national finish, and then added another NCAA runner-up placement during the indoor season in the 5,000 meters. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS