FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS (May 13, 2009) The 28th-ranked TCU women's tennis team fell to No. 14 Arkansas by a score of 4-3 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Regionals at the Billingsley Tennis Center.
“It was a nice to see us come out and play well from the start,” TCU head coach
Jefferson Hammond said “We worked hard and competed hard. We will have to come
out and do the same tomorrow if we want to win the title.”
The Frogs jumped out to the 1-0 lead after cruising through the doubles action.
TCU's pairing of Idunn Hertzberg and Nina Munch-Soegaard led off with an
impressive 8-5 victory over Emily Carbone and Kate Lukomskaya at the No. 3
position. After falling behind 2-1 early, the Frogs’ stole three-straight games
and never looked back.
TCU’s 39th-ranked senior tandem of Macall Harkins and Anna Sydorska completed
the sweep with an 8-5 victory over the Razorbacks’ 20th-ranked duo of Nanar
Airapetian and Anouk Tigu. Despite dropping the opening game, Harkins and
Sydorksa battled to take the following four to go up 5-1. As the two teams
battled, the Purple and White prevailed to clinch the doubles point.
"It felt great to win the doubles point,” TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond said.
“We knew that would help give us a shot. Their doubles are very good and for us
to come away with that point meant a lot.”
With the win, Sydorska picked up her 105th career doubles win, tying former Frog
Lori Nelson for the program record. A 2007 doubles All-American, Sydorska will
have an opportunity to break the TCU benchmark alongside Harkins at the NCAA
Doubles Championship, beginning May 20.
After Munch-Soegaard fell from the top spot to open singles action, Harkins gave
the Frogs a 2-1 lead with a 6-0, 6-2 rout over No. 77 Tigu from the No. 2
position. The senior never trailed in the match and continued to dominate
opponents in straight sets, picking up her last nine wins in two sets. The
all-MWC singles selection finishes with her second consecutive 15-win season
spring, going 15-10 this semester, while posting a 26-14 ledger for the year.
Seconds later, the Hogs pulled the match even with a 6-2, 6-3 win over TCU
freshman Gaby Mastromarino from the sixth court. Fellow newcomer Kayla Duncan
returned the lead to the Frogs with her 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Carbone from the
No. 4 position. The Winston-Salem, N.C. native fought back from an early
first-set deficit, while cruising in the second stanza. Duncan finished the year
as the TCU leader in wins, racking up a 17-6 spring ledger, while totaling a
27-7 overall clip for the season.
Holding a 3-2 advantage with two courts left in action, the Frogs needed only
one win to clinch the match. Hertzberg commanded her opening set over
Airapetian, 6-4, but lost her game the rest of the day, dropping the final two
sets 6-1, 6-2. The loss pushed the match to 3-3 and focused all attention on the
No 3 position.
Sophomore Katariina Touhimaa battled back in her opening set from being down 3-2
to take a 5-4 lead. However, Arkansas senior Ela Kaluder had other plans,
stealing the final games in the opening frame to take the 7-5.
Kaluder took that momentum to blaze to an early 2-0 lead in the second set,
before Tuohimaa took three-straight games to cruise to a 3-2 lead. As Tuohimaa
jumped to a 5-3 advantage, it seemed as if the match would roll into a third and
final set, but the Hogs’ senior had wasn’t ready to give up, pushing the second
stanza into a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Tuohimaa took an early 3-1 advantage, but saw it dwindle into
a 4-4 tie, before Kaluder would claim four of the five points to clinch the
match, 7-5, 7-6 (6).
“Arkansas' senior came through. They have had a tough year, kind of up and
down,” Hammond said. “In the end, I think this was their moment and they were
going to make sure that they did what they needed to do to win this match."
Harkins and Sydorska will represent TCU at the NCAA Doubles Championship, while
Munch-Soegaard will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship, May 20-25, in
College Station, Texas.
No. 14-1st Seed Arkansas (15-7) def. No. 28-2nd Seed TCU (17-11), 4-3
SINGLES
1. #2 Aurelija Miseviciute (Ark) def. #16 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU), 6-2, 6-1
2. #90 Macall Harkins (TCU) def. #77 Anouk Tigu (Ark), 6-0, 6-2
3. Ela Kaluder (Ark) def. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU), 7-5, 7-6 (6)
4. Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. Emily Carbone (Ark), 6-4, 6-3
5. Nanar Airapetian (Ark) def. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
6. Kate Lukomskaya (Ark) def. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 3*
DOUBLES
1. #39 Harkins/Sydorska (TCU) def. #20 Airapetian/Tigu (Ark), 8-5
2. Duncan/Tuohimaa (TCU) vs. #45 Miseviciute/Kaluder (Ark), 5-7 unfinished
3. Hertzberg/Munch-Soegaard (TCU) vs. Carbone/Lukomskaya (Ark), 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 1*
*Clinching point
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