Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Old Dominion
Thundering Herd Wins 5-1 over Old Dominion
4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 1, 2012
RICHMOND, Va.- The Marshall University women's tennis team's loss to VCU on Saturday may have ended a seven match winning streak, but the Thundering Herd wasted little time in starting a new streak with a 5-1 victory over the Old Dominion University Lady Monarchs on Sunday.
The neutral site battle came just 24-hours after Marshall had dropped a 4-1 decision to VCU, but tired legs were overcome as the Herd claimed its fourth ITA Atlantic Region scalp of the season with a 5-1 win.
Marshall jumped out to an early lead courtesy of a doubles sweep, as all three Herd pairs won their respective matches. Number one tandem Dominika Zaprazna and Maria Voscekova won its match 8-2 to improve to 13-4 for the season, and Karli Timko and Kristina Koprcina won their fifth doubles match in a row with a similarly convincing 8-3 victory. Ellie Ball and Kara Kucin won 8-6 to complete the sweep, and Marshall was up 1-0 heading into singles play.
Zaprazna slipped for Marshall early on in the singles matches, falling 3-6, 5-7 to the Monarch's Diana Ivanova on court one, but the rest of the Herd ladies responded in winning fashion. Karli Timko won 6-0, 6-1, Kai Broomfield - playing for the first time since East Carolina - won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, and freshman Ellie Ball improved to 10-8 on the season with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Maria Voscekova also won, claiming victory in extra-game sets with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Aleksandra Mitrovska. Junior Kara Kucin's match with Nika Khmolovska went unfinished after the two players split the opening sets.
"It felt good to get a win today after playing a tough match yesterday," said head coach John Mercer after the match. "We need to keep improving and play better in the next matches as we come down the final stretch of the season."
Marshall, now 11-7 this spring, will travel to Louisville this Friday for a 2:00 p.m. match with the Cardinals, and remain in Kentucky for a neutral-site showdown with C-USA foe Tulsa on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. As of now the Herd still sits just inside the top-75 ITA National Rankings at No. 72.
Players Mentioned
