April 30, 2008

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Marshall University's juniors Kellie Schmitt (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Karolina Soor (Lindesberg, Sweden) earned an automatic bid into the NCAA singles and doubles competition, as announced by the NCAA, Wednesday. The Thundering Herd pair will travel to Tulsa, Okla., May 21-26 to compete against 32 other doubles participants and 64 other singles competitors at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, hosted by the University of Tulsa.

All matches shall be the best of three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six games all will be used for all matches.

As the No. 55 ranked player, Schmitt will be the sole representative for Conference USA in the NCAA singles competition. Schmitt was also selected for the second consecutive time C-USA Player of the Year and First-Team All Conference honors this week.

The 28th-ranked doubles team of Schmitt and Soor will also be the lone C-USA doubles representative at the NCAA doubles competition. The pair earned All-Conference Doubles Team and Outstanding Doubles team of the C-USA Championship this past week. Soor was selected to the All-Conference Second team.

"We are really thrilled they earned an automatic bid," Marshall's head coach John Mercer said. "They deserve this opportunity with the great season and quality wins they've worked hard to achieve."

In the past six seasons, Marshall (49th) has been present at the NCAA singles and/or doubles competition five times. Schmitt participated in the 2007 NCAA singles competition. With partner Lynzee Kever (2005-2006), Schmitt also appeared in the 2006 NCAA doubles competition.

Jessica Johnson (2001-2004) and Ashley Kroh (2001-2005) were 2004 NCAA National Finalists. Johnson and Alice Sukner (2000-2004) participated in the 2003 NCAA doubles competition. As a team, the Herd has also earned NCAA appearances in the past three out of six seasons.

"We are looking forward to competing," Coach Mercer added. "This is the first time in program history both a singles and doubles team will compete at the NCAA tournament."