April 19, 2008

Box Score

HOUSTON - In Friday's third quarterfinal match of the 2008 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship at the John E. Hoff Courts on the campus of the University of Houston, second-seeded Marshall outlasted No. 7 UCF, 4-3.

Marshall University improved to 16-8 overall while UCF finished its season 12-9.

The Herd will face the No. 3 seed and 64th-ranked Rice University (17-4), Saturday at 2 p.m. CT in the semifinal round. The Herd leads the all-time series against the Owls, 2-1.

The Knights' pair of Elvira Serrot and Jenny Carati took an 8-6 decision over Jeanne Schwartz (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Isabell Raich (Klaus, Austria) at the number two position.

The Herd's team of Jessica Keener (Reston, Va.) and Thaddea Lock (Bristol, England) defeated Kenza Belbacha and Anna Yakimchenkova, 8-5, at the number three slot. The 31st-ranked duo of Kellie Schmitt (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Karolina Soor (Lindesberg, Sweden) captured the point with an 8-6 advantage over Jenny Frisell and Kyla McNicol at the number one mark.

Playing the number one spot, Schmitt (53rd) took a straight-set decision over Jenny Frisell, 6-1, 6-0, to put the Herd over UCF, 2-0. Keener followed with another straight-set victory, 6-2, 6-0, against Isa Ohlinger at the number six.

Marshall needed one more victory to clench the quarterfinal victory, but UCF wasn't going down easily with an Elvira Serrot 6-3, 6-2 advantage over Schwartz at the number two. Kenza Belbacha defeated Raich, 7-6, 6-4 at the number four position. Lock fell to Anna Yakimchenkova, 7-5, 6-4, at the number five mark to tie the match, 3-3.

Finally, after four hours of play, the Herd's Soor clenched the quarterfinal victory with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 decision over Kyla McNicol at the number three slot.

With the victory, Marshall tied the all-time series with UCF at two.