Marshall University Athletics
No. 54 San Diego Knocks Off Herd Tennis, 5-2
3/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
No. 54 San Diego Knocks Off Herd Tennis, 5-2
3/21/2005
SAN DIEGO, Calif. ? The Marshall University tennis team ran out of gas Sunday afternoon against the No. 54 ranked University of San Diego Toreros in a 5-2 loss at the USD West Tennis Courts in the final match of the team?s Spring Break trip to Southern California.
The No. 70 ranked Thundering Herd came up just a little bit short against the No. 54 Toreros in a couple of singles matches. With the loss, Marshall drops to 7-6 on the season in the midst of its toughest schedule in team history with nine of its first 13 matches being played against ITA Top 75 programs.
The Herd picked up a 5-2 win over the No. 73 ranked Washington State Cougars on Friday in the first match of the trip to earn a split on the weekend. San Diego improved to 6-6 on the year with the victory.
Marshall rallied from behind to win the doubles point against the Toreros, picking up wins from the second and third spots. Lille Nzudie (Duoala, Cameroon) and Shannon Brown (Overland Park, Kan.), were victorious at No. 3 with an 8-4 win. At No. 2, Ashley Kroh (Louisville, Ky.) and Jeanne Schwartz (West Palm Beach, Fla.) battled back from a 4-1 deficit to pick up an 8-6 win and give the Herd a 1-0 edge in the match.
The Toreros, however, would regroup and come out strong in singles competition. After two wins at No. 5 and 6, USD took an advantage in the match. Kroh would fight back to win six straight games in the second set after trailing 4-0, to pick up a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles to give the Herd it?s only singles win of the day and even out the match at two all.
The Herd would be close in matches at No. 2 and 4 singles, but couldn?t pull either one out. Joelle Good (Zurich, Switzerland) battled back after losing the first set 6-1 and falling behind 5-1 in the second to force a second set tiebreak before eventually losing 7-5. Danielle Hock (Wigan, England) was in a back and forth battle all day at No. 4, before losing 7-5, 7-5. Nzudie put up a strong fight against the 30th ranked player in the nation, Emma Murphy, at No. 1, before falling 6-4, 6-0.
After flying back to Huntington late Sunday, the Herd will have little time to regroup before starting Mid-American Conference play against rival Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich on Friday. Marshall will then bus over to DeKalb, Ill., following the Western match to play Northern Illinois on Saturday.
RESULTS: Marshall at San Diego
Doubles
No. 1 ? Kazarian/Brown def. Good/Hock 8-5
No. 2 - Kroh/Schwartz def. Perl/Murphy 8-6
No. 3 ? Nzudie/Brown def. Livesay/Reitz 8-4
Singles
No. 1 ? Murphy def. Nzudie 6-4, 6-0
No. 2 ? Kazarian def. Good 6-1, 7-6
No. 3 ? Kroh def. Perl 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 ? Livesay def. Hock 7-5, 7-5
No. 5 ? Lindstrand def. Schwartz 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 ? Brown def. Paradis 6-0, 6-3
