FORT WORTH, TEXAS (February 16, 2008) The No. 36 TCU women’s tennis team edged 28th-ranked Texas A&M by a score of 4-3 in Saturday’s home opener indoors at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The win improves the Horned Frogs to 2-1 overall, while dropping the Aggies to 4-1 on the season.
“I’m so proud of how hard the team played and how they cheered for each other today,” said TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond. “We got a lot of support from the fans and the men’s team, and that means so much.”
The doubles action served as an indicator of just how tight the match would play out on Saturday. At the No. 2 position, the Horned Frog duo of Nina Munch-Soegaard and Katariina Tuohimaa found themselves down 7-2 to Texas A&M’s Anna Blagodarova and Michelle Sammons, but stormed back before falling 8-5.
The TCU duo of Maria Babanova and Kewa Nichols went back and forth with the Aggie tandem of Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank, eventually falling by a 9-7 decision to clinch the doubles point.
At the top position, the 18th-ranked TCU team of Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska were down 6-3 early to Tiffany Clifford and Christi Liles, and went on to trail 7-5 before fighting back to bring up the tiebreaker. The Frogs found themselves down once again, trailing 6-3 in the tiebreaker, and fought back to win the match by a score of 9-8(7).
TCU freshman Katariina Tuohimaa led off singles play with a victory to even the match at 1-1. Tuohimaa, a native of Helsinki, Finland, was down 3-1 in the first set, but stormed back to take the match by a score of 6-3, 6-1.
After a TCU loss at the No. 2 singles position, Munch-Soegaard defeated Elzé Potgieter at the top spot to even the overall match at 2-2. Munch-Soegaard won the first set 6-2, but trailed 5-2 in the second before reeling off five consecutive games to get the victory.
Sydorska would follow to put TCU up 3-2 with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over Clifford at the No. 3 singles position. Nichols would drop a hard fought 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 decision to Liles at the No. 4 slot, which evened the match at 3-3 and turned the attention to the No. 6 singles match between TCU’s Idunn Hertzberg and Texas A&M’s Michelle Sammons.
The freshman would deliver for TCU, knocking off Sammons by a score of 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the match for the Horned Frogs.
TCU will travel to Waco, Texas, to take on No. 10 Baylor on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The Frogs will return home on Sunday to play host to No. 16 William & Mary at 10 a.m.
No. 36 TCU (2-1) def. No. 28 Texas A&M (4-1), 4-3
SINGLES
1. No. 66 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. Elzé Potgieter (A&M) 6-2, 7-5
2. Anna Blagodarova (A&M) def. Macall Harkins (TCU) 6-3, 6-2
3. No. 80 Anna Sydorska (TCU) def. Tiffany Clifford (A&M) 7-6(5), 6-1
4. Christi Liles (A&M) def. Kewa Nichols (TCU) 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4
5. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Morgan Frank (A&M) 6-3, 6-1
6. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Michelle Sammons (A&M) 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 6*
DOUBLES
1. No. 18 Harkins/Sydorska (TCU) def. Clifford/Liles (A&M) 9-8(7)
2. Blagodarova/Sammons (A&M) def. Munch-Soegaard/Tuohimaa (TCU) 8-5
3. Davidson/Frank (A&M) def. Babanova/Nichols (TCU) 9-7
Order of Finish: 2, 3*, 1
*Clinching point
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