Roll of 7-0 Wins Continues For Herd Tennis
Marshall Drops Rival Miami for Tenth Straight Time

4/8/2005

Senior Lille Nzudie was victorious, 7-5, 6-1 at No. 2 today in the Herd's 7-0 win against the RedHawks. Photo by Matt Riley

HUNTINGTON, W.Va – The Thundering Herd continued to roll through the competition with another 7-0 victory Friday afternoon at the Brian David Fox Tennis Center over the Miami RedHawks in Mid-American Conference action.

The sweep is Marshall’s fifth straight and with the win the Herd improves to 12-7 overall and 4-1 in the MAC. Miami drops to 12-6 on the year and 3-2 in conference play.

“Miami has some good wins this year,” Marshall head coach John Mercer said. “We knew we had to come out mentally prepared and I thought we did a very good job out there today against a good team. We know our job is only half way done because we’ll have to get through them again to get to the MAC finals.”

Marshall took control of the match early when it swept through the doubles portion of the match with 8-3, 8-2, and 8-1 wins at Nos. 1-3, respectively. At No. 1, the 60th ranked duo of seniors Danielle Hock (Wigan, England) and Joelle Good (Zurich, Switzerland) knocked off Linda Jirouskova and Katrina Lomidze. Ashley Kroh (Louisville, Ky.) and Jeanne Schwartz (West Palm Beach, Fla) downed Leda Pesatova and Remy Swain in the two spot and Lille Nzudie (Duoala, Cameroon) and Shannon Brown (Overland Park, Kan.) were victorious at No. 3, topping Maura Trauernicht and Victoria Pulido.

In singles, Kroh continued her dominant play with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jirouskova to run her winning streak to 13. Nzudie topped Lomidze, 7-5, 6-1 for a win on court two and Good moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time Marshall singles wins list with her 88th, defeating Kelly Douple, 6-3, 7-5.

The wins kept coming for the Herd as Hock and Schwartz cruised to 6-1, 6-2 wins at No. 4 and 5. Brown then closed out the 7-0 shutout by coming back from dropping the first set 6-2 to take a 2-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8) win after outlasting Swain in the No. 6 spot in a ten-point tiebreaker for the third set.

Marshall now has command of second place in the conference, behind leader Western Michigan. The Broncos and Herd are the only ranked teams in the MAC with WMU coming in at No. 51 and the Herd at No. 67.

With the win, Marshall is 30-3 at home in the MAC since joining in 1998 and 57-9 overall in regular season play. The Herd has now won 10 in a row against Miami.

Up next for Marshall, the Herd will play host to Buffalo and Akron next weekend with 1 p.m. start times on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

RESULTS:
Marshall vs. Miami
DOUBLES
No. 1 – No. 60 Hock/Good def. Jirouskova/Lomidze 8-3
No. 2 – Kroh/Schwartz def. Swain/Pesatova 8-2
No. 3 – Brown/Nzudie def. Pulido/Trauernicht 8-1

SINGLES
No. 1 – Kroh def. Jirouskova 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 – Nzudie def. Lomidze 7-5, 6-1
No. 3 – Good def. Douple 6-3, 7-5
No. 4 – Hock def. Pesatova 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 – Schwartz def. Pulido 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 – Brown def. Swain 2-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8)

Marshall (12-7, 4-1) – Miami (12-6, 3-2)