Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Women’s tennis: Fresno State 4, TCU 3
The No. 31 TCU women's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to No. 15 Fresno State on Monday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. With the loss, the Horned Frogs fall to 5-3 on the season, while the Bulldogs improve to 7-4 overall.
"This was a tremendous effort today to rally back from being down 3-0," said TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond. "Fresno State played really good doubles to put us in a hole to start. We showed great resilience. To say that I am very proud of this team would be an understatement as I have never been prouder."
The Frogs were swept in doubles play to begin the match down 1-0. The 11th-ranked TCU duo of Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska suffered its first loss of the year, falling 8-4 to the nation's top ranked duo of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe, which clinched the doubles point for Fresno State.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead after winning at the No. 2 and No. 4 singles positions before the Horned Frogs stormed back.
TCU freshman Katariina Tuohimaa won her fourth consecutive match, defeating Jacqueline Haskett by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
Nina Munch-Soegaard followed to put the Frogs within one point with an impressive 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 11 Melanie Gloria at the top singles position.
Idunn Hertzberg would cruise to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Vanessa Heroux at the No. 6 spot to knot the match at 3-3, where the attention turned to the No. 3 singles contest between TCU's Macall Harkins and Fresno State's Renata Kucerkova.
Harkins, a junior from Palos Verdes, Calif., fought valiantly, saving nine match points before falling by a score of 12-10 in the third-set tiebreaker.
"Macall fought to the bitter end and did everything right," Hammond said. "The Fresno State player made some great shots and raised her level and ended up winning by the tightest of margins."
The Frogs will hit the road for four straight contests away from home, beginning with a match against No. 19 Wake Forest at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
No. 15 Fresno State (7-4) def. No. 31 TCU (5-3), 4-3
SINGLES
1. Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. No. 11 Melanie Gloria (FS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
2. No. 20 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. Anna Sydorska (TCU) 6-0, 6-2
3. No. 98 Renata Kucerkova (FS) def. Macall Harkins (TCU) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(10)
4. No. 77 Tinesta Rowe (FS) def. Kewa Nichols (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Jacqueline Haskett (FS) 6-1, 6-0
6. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Vanessa Heroux (FS) 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 5, 1, 6, 3*
DOUBLES
1. No. 1 Gloria/Rowe (FS) def. No. 11 Harkins/Sydorska (TCU) 8-4
2. No. 14 Petukhova/Kucerkova (FS) def. Munch-Soegaard/Tuohimaa (TCU) 8-5
3. Heroux/Haskett (FS) def. Nichols/Hertzberg (TCU) 8-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
*Clinching point
Source: TCU
