Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Louisville
Herd Tennis Knocks Off No. 72 Ranked Louisville, 4-3
3/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 31, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Thundering Herd picked up its third win over a ranked opponent Friday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky., as Marshall downed the No. 72 ranked Louisville Cardinals 4-3 in women's tennis action.
Marshall, ranked No. 60 in the latest ITA poll, improves to 14-6 on the season and No. 72 Louisville falls to 17-6 with the loss.
"Today's win was against a very good Louisville team that is a very tough opponent on their indoor courts," Marshall head coach John Mercer said. It's another good quality win for us against a ranked opponent and that always helps your confidence."
The Herd started the action by taking the doubles point over the Cardinals with wins from the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Lynzee Kever and Kellie Schmitt continued their stellar play together from the No. 1 slot as the duo improved to 15-4 on the season with an 8-3 victory over Suzanna Gracanin and Maria Klokotzky. On court three, Jeanne Schwartz and Jessica Keener fought back after falling behind 3-0 to win the next eight games for an 8-3 decision over Natalia Baez and Stephania Velazquez.
Louisville picked up the win on court two as Bianca Gorbea and Natalie Laszkowski beat Shannon Brown and Karolina Soor 8-5 despite a valiant comeback effort from the Herd duo after trailing 6-1.
Marshall wouldn't need much time to clinch the match as it headed in to singles play as Schmitt, Soor and Keener rolled to wins to seal up the four points needed for a Herd victory.
Schmitt cruised past Gorbea from the No. 2 position as she improved her team-best singles record to 15-4 on the year with a 6-1, 6-3 win. At No. 5 singles, Soor beat Valazquez 6-1, 6-4 and Keener defeated Baez for the Herd's final win, 6-2, 6-0 to seal the deal.
Louisville would go on to win the final three matches as Gracanin defeated Schwartz on court three 6-3, 6-2. The final two matches would come down to 10-point tiebreakers for the third set because the Herd had already clinched the match. Laszkowski edged Brown 11-9 in the tiebreaker to win at No. 4, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (9) and in the final match, Klokotzky would outlast Kever from the No. 1 position for a 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (8) as she held on to win the tiebreaker 10-8 to give Louisville its third win.
"I thought we were able to control the doubles point really well today and got off to a solid start in singles which gave us a lot of confidence to get the win," Mercer said. "Anytime you beat a ranked team that plays a lot of other ranked teams close it gives you a lot of confidence. Hopefully we'll play well again tomorrow and get another quality win over a good UCF team.
The Herd now turns its focus to the Golden Knights. The Herd and UCF are set to meet at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Louisville. This will be Marshall's first C-USA match as a member of Conference USA and the only one until the Conference USA Tournament in Dallas because there is no regular season league schedule.
The Golden Knights are 10-6 on the year.
Players Mentioned
