TCU
No. 42 Utah
TCU Slips Up Against No. 42 Utah, 4-3
4/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 18, 2010
ALBUQUERQUE - The TCU women's tennis team suffered a 4-3 loss to No. 42 Utah Sunday at the Linda Estes Tennis Center. The Horned Frogs dropped a late lead in doubles action to allow the pivotal early point slip to the Utes.
TCU opened doubles play with a quick 8-2 win as the Frogs' tandem of sophomore Kayla Duncan and junior Katariina Tuohimaa upended Utah's Anastasia Putilina and Paige Miles from the top court. The Utes came back to earn a victory in a tight match from the middle position with the pairing of Andrea Maughan and Erin Monson defeating TCU's Maria Babanova and Nina Munch-Soegaard, 8-6.
On the final doubles court, TCU's team of Idunn Hertzberg and Shalini Sahoo found themselves up 6-3 over Utah's Lisa Johnson and Evgenia Kryuchkova before losing the lead and the doubles point with a 9-7 loss.
The Frogs regrouped and battled hard in singles action, as Hertzberg got TCU going with a quick 6-3, 6-3 win from the fourth flight over Miles. The win is the second in as many days for the Oslo, Norway native, giving her four victories against the MWC this spring.
With the team score knotted at 1-1, Duncan followed with a decisive 6-1, 6-2 win over Monson to give TCU its first lead in the match. The Utes' Johnson evened the team score from the fifth flight, taking down Sahoo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. Maughan pushed Utah ahead by taking down Babanova from the No. 6 position, 6-2, 6-3.
As Utah took the 3-2 lead, No. 52 Munch-Soegaard stepped up for the Frogs by delivering a 7-6 (5), 6-4 blow from the top court over No. 83 Putilina. The senior from Amarillo, Texas pulled the match to a 3-3 tie and also moved four wins away from tying Teresa Dobson for the fifth-most career singles victories in TCU history.
In the end, Tuohimaa pushed her match with Kryuchkova to three sets, but could not pull out the points that TCU needed to clinch the win, dropping her first conference match of the spring by the score of 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
With the win, the Utes finished the spring with an 8-0 record against the Mountain West Conference to claim the regular season title.
"Congratulations to Utah on winning the conference outright," TCU head coach Jefferson Hammond. "It was a great match. They fought hard and handled the pressure well. Their coaching staff did a really nice job."
TCU (6-16, 3-4 MWC) will end the regular season with a match this evening against New Mexico. First serve is set for 3 p.m. CT.
No. 42 Utah (16-6, 8-0 MWC) def. TCU (6-16, 3-4 MWC), 4-3
SINGLES
1. No. 52 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. No. 83 Anastasia Putilina 7-6 (5), 6-4
2. Evgenia Kryuchkova (UTAH) def. Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. No. 92 Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. Erin Monson (UTAH), 6-1, 6-2
4. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Paige Miles (UTAH), 6-3, 6-3
5. Lisa Johnson (UTAH) def. Shalini Sahoo (TCU, 6-2, 6-1
6. Andrea Maughan (UTAH) def. Maria Babanova (TCU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 4, 3, 5, 6, 1, 2*
DOUBLES
1. No. 50 Duncan/Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Putilina/Miles, 8-2
2. Maughan/Monson (UTAH) def. Babanova/Munch-Soegaard, 8-6
3. Johnson/Kryuchkova (UTAH) def. Hertzberg/Sahoo (TCU), 9-7
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*
Players Mentioned
