C-USA Women's Tennis Championship Semifinal No. 2 - Marshall 4, Rice 2
April 21, 2007
TULSA, Oklahoma - Saturday's second semifinal match of the 2007 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa between No. 3 Marshall and No. 10 Rice saw the Owls' bid for their third upset fall short as the Thundering Herd (16-11) outlasted the young Rice team, 4-2. The No.63 Herd grabbed the doubles point for the early advantage and picked up singles wins at spots two, five and six to advance to take on No. 1 and host Tulsa Sunday morning at 10 a.m. CT to determine C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In doubles, Kellie Schmitt and Lynzee Kever defeated Julie Chao and Tiffany Lee at number one, 8-5, and Jessica Keener and Yulia Kashelkina knocked off Emily Braid and Christine Dao at number three, 8-4. Singles play was tight throughout, but Marshall freshman Thaddea Lock clinched the victory for the Herd with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Rice's Rebecca Lin in the number five slot. Rice tied the match at one after Dominique Karas knocked off Kever, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 spot, but Marshall regained the lead after Karolina Soor defeated Dao of Rice, 6-2, 6-2, at the number two position. The Herd went up 3-1 after Keener beat Braid, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 6, but Rice made it 3-2 with a win at the number three position when Lee defeated Kashelkina, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). That set up Lock, who dropped the first set but rallied to win 12 out of the next 15 games for the Herd victory. Marshall head coach John Mercer liked the fight his team showed to battle for the win. "I think we showed a lot of fight today and a lot of character," said Mercer. "At times we had players down in matches and we fought hard and came back. I was really pleased that we showed that ability." Marshall will be playing in its sixth conference championship match, its first as a member of C-USA. The Herd has played in four NCAA Championships with its last appearance coming in 2005 when it lost in the opening round. Defending champion Rice finished its regular season at 8-15.
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