Marshall University Athletics
No. 52 Marshall Heads to C-USA Championships
4/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 20, 2011
C-USA Championship Page
ORLANDO - Earning the three-seed and a first round bye, the No. 52 Marshall University tennis team looks for its first-ever league crown this weekend at the Conference USA tournament hosted by UCF at the Lake Cane Tennis Center.
The Thundering Herd (17-5) is one of five nationally-ranked teams in action this weekend. The top four seeds in this weekend's tournament (No. 22 Tulsa, No. 33 SMU, No. 52 Marshall, No. 66 Rice) are the exact same from last year's tournament. UCF is the other nationally-ranked team, checking in at No. 75.
MU awaits the winner of 6-11 match-up which features the six-seed Memphis vs. the 11-seed UTEP to be played on Thursday. The Herd will play its quarterfinal contest on Friday at 10 a.m. If Marshall can get past the winner of Memphis and UTEP, it could potentially set up a rematch of last year's semifinal against SMU. The Herd was victorious against the Mustangs before falling in the championship match to Tulsa.
Scouting the Top Teams:
No. 1 Tulsa (22-2 overall - National Ranking: No. 22):
Despite only having one nationally-ranked player in singles (No. 108 Alexandra Kichoutkin), and no doubles tandem in the rankings, it has been a total team effort on the part of the Golden Hurricane. TU's only two losses were at the hands of No. 30 Texas A&M and No. 21 Arkansas. With wins over schools such as Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Rice, SMU, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, LSU and Nebraska, Tulsa is the team to beat this weekend. TU is riding a 17-match win streak.
No. 2 SMU (19-4 overall - National Ranking: No. 33):
The Mustangs have arguable the best singles player in the whole tournament. Marta Lesniak is the ninth-ranked player in the country and has an overall singles record of 20-2. Including fall action, she has a singles record of 38-5. With all four of its losses coming against Top-40 teams (No. 1 Stanford, No. 7 Baylor, No. 22 Tulsa, No. 37 Ole Miss), SMU is going to be a tough out.
No. 3 Marshall (17-5 overall - National Ranking: No. 52):
Marshall has the best doubles team in C-USA and one of the best duos in the country. Michaela Kissell and Dominika Zaprazna are No.15 this week in the latest ITA national polls. The tandem was the first team in program history to go through the spring competition with an undefeated record. The two played to an overall mark of 18-0 together and registered wins over No. 10 Virginia, No. 20 Vanderbilt and No. 29 VCU. Catherine Kellner had a team-best record of 18-4 in singles and will be crucial to the Herd's success. When Kellner won her singles match this year, the team was 16-1.
No. 4 Rice (13-9 overall - National Ranking: No. 66):
The Owls played one of the toughest schedules in the country with 11 over their 22 matches coming against teams that were currently in the national rankings. Despite having an overall record of 3-8 in those matches, Rice battled No. 7 Baylor to a 4-3 loss. The Owls have won four of their last five matches, with its only loss coming to SMU.
No. 5 UCF (11-7 overall - National Ranking: No. 75):
Host UCF just squeaks into the national rankings, checking in at No. 75. The Knights are 3-1 against conference opponents with wins coming over UAB, East Carolina and Memphis, while its one loss was against SMU. UCF does not have a true No. 1 singles player as Jenny Frisell and Alexis Rodriguez have split time at the top spot. As a team, the Knights are 7-10 in first singles.
Fans will be able to follow live stats of the events all weekend by clicking on the C-USA Championship Page.
