TCU
No. 43 Illinois
TCU Falls to No. 43 Illinois, 4-3
3/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 7, 2010
FORT WORTH - The No. 62 TCU women's tennis team dropped Sunday's match with No. 43 Illinois, 4-3, in the indoor complex at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. TCU picked up the doubles point for the first time at home this season, but dropped five singles matches.
"We were right there again today," TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond said. "We've got a very tough schedule and Illinois is one of the best teams in the Big Ten. I was proud of the way our squad performed. We definitely grew as a team today even though we lost and I'm happy about that."
The match began with doubles action on the top three courts. Illinois' tandem of Marisa Lambropoulos and Breanne Stumko took the first match from the third flight, taking down TCU's pairing of Gaby Mastromarino and Idunn Hertzberg, 8-3. The Frogs fought back to even the doubles score at 1-1 after Nina Munch-Soegaard and Maria Babanova took charge from the middle court to defeat Rachael White and Chelcie Abajian, 8-5.
In an even match from the top position, TCU's team of Kayla Duncan and Katariina Tuohimaa traded games with the No. 46 duo of Megan Fudge and Leigh Finnegan from Illinois. With the match tied at 6-6, the Frogs tandem broke the Illini's serve to steal a game to slide up 7-6. With Duncan holding serve in the following game, TCU won the match, 8-6, to clinch the doubles point.
With the overall team score at 1-0 in TCU's favor, the Fighting Illini knotted the match with the opening singles win from the fifth flight, as Abajian toppled Mastromarino, 6-4, 6-3. No. 112 Fudge followed with a frustrating 6-0, 7-5 victory over No. 94 Munch-Soegaard from the No. 1 position to give Illinois a 2-1 advantage in the match. After being blanked in the first set, Munch-Soegaard jumped to a two-game lead in the second set only to see it dwindle.
Duncan evened the team score for the Frogs, picking up a 6-2, 6-1 decision from the second flight over No. 94 Rachael White. Duncan got out to big leads in both sets and never looked back, taking the overall match score to 2-2 with three singles matches left to go.
TCU's Hertzberg dropped her match to Finnegan from the No. 4 position, 6-4, 6-4, to move the Fighting Illini to within one victory away from clinching the match. Finnegan had to surmount a 3-1 deficit in the first set and then carried her momentum to jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the second frame.
Illinois clinched the win on the No. 3 court, as Lambropoulos took down No. 86 Tuohimaa in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 6-3. After losing the tiebreaker in the first set, Tuohimaa never found the energy to comeback in the end.
In the final match of the evening, Babanova earned her second win of the weekend, as she defeated Illinois sophomore Amy Allin from the sixth flight, 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (5). Allin is the granddaughter of legendary TCU tennis coach Bernard "Tut" Bartzen. Both of her parents, two uncles, sister and grandfather played tennis for TCU.
TCU (1-9) will enjoy an eight-day layoff before hitting the road to challenge No. 16 Miami on March 15 in Coral Gables, Fla. The Frogs will return home to the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center to host Virginia Commonwealth on March 18.
No. 43 Illinois def. No. 62 TCU, 4-3
SINGLES
1. No. 112 Megan Fudge (ILL) def. No. 94 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU), 6-0, 7-5
2. No. 110 Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. No. 94 Rachael White (ILL), 6-2, 6-1
3. Marisa Lambropoulos (ILL) def. No. 86 Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU), 7-6 (5), 6-3
4. Leigh Finnegan (ILL) def. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU), 6-4, 6-4
5. Chelcie Abajian (ILL) def. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU), 6-4, 6-3
6. Maria Babanova (TCU) def. Amy Allin (ILL), 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (5)
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 2, 4, 3*, 6
DOUBLES
1. Duncan/Tuohimaa (TCU) def. No. 46 Finnegan/Fudge (ILL), 8-6
2. Babanova/Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. Abajian/White (ILL), 8-5
3. Lambropoulos/Smutko (ILL) def. Hertzberg/Mastromarino (TCU), 8-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*
Players Mentioned
