Marshall University Athletics
Herd Tennis Grounds Louisville, 5-2
2/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Herd Tennis Grounds Louisville, 5-2
2/4/2005
Ashley Kroh celebrates the final point in with partner Jeanne Schwartz after coming back from down 6-3 to pick up a 9-8 win at No. 2 doubles to get the momentum started for the Thundering Herd against Louisville. Photo by Matt Riley |
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's tennis team picked up a hard-fought 5-2 win over the University of Louisville Friday night at the Huntington Tennis Club.
"We knew we would have to fight to get the win," Marshall head coach John Mercer said. "They're a very high-energy team that competes very hard from beginning to end. We had to have everyone show up and work hard to pull this one out. They have a very good foundation and are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future."
With the win, Marshall avoided back-to-back losses and improved to 3-1 on the season. Louisville dropped to 6-2 with the loss. Mercer also moved into second place on the career coaching wins list at Marshall with his 44th victory as head coach. He passed Lynn Mcleod and Diane Fornari and trails assistant coach Laurie Mercer for first place.
The five-and-a-half hour match got off to an exciting start with the Cardinals' Suzanna Gracanin and Leslie Stewart winning at No. 1 doubles over the No. 60 ranked duo of Joelle Good (Zurich, Switzerland) and Danielle Hock (Wigan, England), 8-4. Marshall's Lille Nzudie (Duoala, Cameroon) and Shannon Brown (Overland Park, Kan.) took care of No. 3 doubles, 8-5 to set up the deciding point for court two.
Louisville's Kelly Taylor and Natalie Laszkowski jumped out to a 6-3 lead over the Herd's Ashley Kroh (Louisville, Ky.) and freshman Jeanne Schwartz (West Palm Beach, Fla.) at No. 2 doubles. However, Kroh and Schwartz refused to go away, trailing 15-40, the Herd duo came back to make it 6-4 and the intensity began to grow inside the Huntington Tennis Club.
"We knew the doubles point was going to be really important in this match," Kroh said. "They're a really loud team and we knew we had to get the upperhand and the momentum going into singles play."
The All-American (Kroh) and her freshman partner didn't disappoint. They battled back to 8-8 to force a match tiebreaker to 10. Kroh and Schwartz finally prevailed 10-8 in the tiebreaker for a 9-8 comeback win in the match.
"You've got to give Jeanne a lot of credit," Kroh said. "As a freshman being in that position for the first time and hanging in there and making some big shots to give us an important lead in the match was really clutch."
With the 1-0 lead heading into singles play, the Herd looked to put the match away.
Good picked up a 6-4, 6-1 win over Taylor at No. 3 singles to put the Herd up 2-0, Kroh followed with a triumph at No. 1, topping Stewart 6-4, 6-1 and Nzudie closed out the win at No. 2 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Robyn White. Brown finished off the Cards by picking up the fifth point in a grueling 2-6, 7-6(3), 11-9 win in the tiebreaker over Ariana Marshall.
Louisville picked up wins at No. 4 and 5 singles with Laszkowski defeating Hock 6-4, 7-5 in the fourth spot and Gracanin beating Schwartz 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 despite a valiant comeback effort from Schwartz being down 4-1 in the second set.
The Thundering Herd is in action again Sunday at the Huntington Tennis Club when it plays host to North Carolina State of the Atlantic Coast Conference at noon.
Louisville plays N.C. State at 1 p.m. Saturday at the HTC.
RESULTS:
Doubles - Marshall vs. Louisville
No. 1 - Gracanin/Stewart def. No. 60, Good/Hock 8-4
No. 2 - Kroh/Schwartz def. Laszkowski/Taylor 9-8
No. 3 - Nzudie/Brown def. White/Marshall
Singles - Marshall vs. Louisville
No. 1 - Kroh def. Stewart 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 - Nzudie def. White 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 - Good def. Taylor 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 - Laszkowski def. Hock 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 - Gracanin def. Schwartz 6-1, 5-7, 6-3
No. 6 - Brown def. Marshall 2-6, 7-6(3), 11-9
