Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
ETSU
Marshall Plunders Bucs in 6-1 Win
3/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 9, 2012
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.- The Marshall University women's tennis team returned to .500 on Friday afternoon with a hard-fought 6-1 win over the visiting East Tennessee State University Buccaneers.
With the weather cooperating, the Thundering Herd took to the outdoor Brian David Fox Tennis Center for the first time this season and managed to keep its perfect home record intact with the 6-1 victory. Marshall also drew level with ETSU in the all-time series, winning the two schools' first matchup since 1997 to make it an even 4-4.
Contrary to the usual, Marshall actually began the day in a 0-1 hole after losing two of the three opening doubles matches. The number one duo of Dominika Zaprazna and Maria Voscekova were 8-2 entering the match but fell 5-8 to ETSU pair Jaime and Wieliczko. The Herd's Karli Timko and Kai Broomfield then won 8-5 with a dominant performance over Brumit and Andreazza, but Kara Kucin and Ellie Ball fell 8-9 to Kedzo and Williams in a hotly contested court two match.
Down 0-1, Marshall rebounded with straight-set wins by junior Kara Kucin and sophomore Maria Voscekova to jump into a 2-1 lead. The two Herd players won 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-1, respectively, with Voscekova pushing her team-best singles record to 7-4 for the spring season.
The remaining four singles matches did not go as quickly, though, as the eight players combined for a total of six tiebreakers by the match's end. In the number one battle, Zaprazna jumped out to an early lead with a 6-0 win but found herself level with ETSU's Paula Jaime after falling 6-8 in the second set tiebreaker. The Slovakian native rebounded, though, grinding out a 7-2 tiebreaker victory in the third and final set.
It was a similar story for senior Kristina Koprcina, who battled to a third set victory with a come-from-behind win over the Bucs' Diana Navrostska. Freshmen Ellie Ball and Kai Broomfield also followed the trend, battling to respective 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), and 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victories. Ball went down early but never gave up, fighting back to win the third set tiebreaker that clinched the overall match for the Herd.
"I knew it would be a tough match in our first match playing outside this season," said Marshall head coach John Mercer. "ETSU got one of their better players back in the lineup after missing her for the first part of this year and gave us a tough match. Both teams played and competed well and fortunately we were able to get some big points at the end. Dominika and Ellie kept battling even when they could have packed it in and played really well to win the tiebreakers at the end of their matches. Overall, a good win by our team, especially fighting back after losing the doubles point."
Now 6-6 overall and an unblemished 4-0 at home, Marshall can take another positive step for the 2012 spring season when it hosts West Virginia University on Sunday at noon.
Players Mentioned
