Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
VCU
Rain, Inconsistency Plague Herd in 4-1 Loss
3/31/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 31, 2012
RICHMOND, Va.- On a day when rain and blustery weather conditions put a damper on the match, the No. 50 ranked VCU Rams downed the Thundering Herd women's tennis team 4-1 in the schools' second ITA Atlantic Region meeting of the season.
It was the second matchup between the two teams this spring and saw VCU come out on top yet again as the Rams improved to 13-4 and Marshall fell to 10-7. Since meeting earlier this season the Herd had won eight of ten matches and was riding an impressive seven match winning streak that had carried the squad back into the national rankings at No. 72, but VCU had other plans as it sought to win its second match in as many days after beating Georgia State 4-3 on Friday.
Not willing to let tired legs affect its performance, VCU made it a priority to get ahead of the Herd early in the match by winning the doubles point. The Bara sisters, who lost to Marshall's Dominika Zaprazna and Maria Voscekova in the two pairs' number one doubles meeting earlier this season, avenged their defeat by overcoming a 2-0 deficit to down the Herd ladies 8-4.
Karli Timko and Kristina Koprcina won their fourth-straight doubles match 8-7 over Salome Kvitashvili and Alena Gerasimova, but it was little consolation as Kara Kucin and Ellie Ball fell 8-4 to Olga Terteac and Daria Yakauleva. With VCU up 1-0 courtesy of the doubles point, the Rams went on to win three of four singles matches before the rain moved in.
Kucin won her first set and went up 1-0 in the second before Gerasimova defaulted the match to give Marshall its lone point of the day. Ellie Ball, Kristina Koprcina, and Karli Timko all fell to surrender the win to VCU, but the margin of victory likely would have been much closer had rain not ended the other two matches before they were over.
Zaprazna was up 4-1 in the third set over Ana Bara on court one, and Voscekova was up 7-5, 3-1 over Alex Bara in the number two battle before the match was suspended. Marshall is now 3-2 in the Atlantic Region and 3-5 on the road.
"We didn't execute on some big points today," said Marshall head coach John Mercer. "Hopefully we can turn around and put in a better performance tomorrow."
Indeed, the Herd will now have just a few hours to rest before returning to the Thalhimer Tennis Center on Sunday at noon for a neutral-site battle with Old Dominion University. The Lady Monarchs are 10-7 overall and defeated Richmond 4-3 in their last match on Wednesday.
Players Mentioned
