Women's Tennis: WVU Falls to Louisville
February 19, 2005 03:03 AM | General
By Jarrod Sudduth for MSNsportsNET.com
February 19, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team suffered a 7-0 defeat at the hands of No. 75 Louisville on Friday, Feb. 18, at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky.
The Mountaineers (4-3) hung tough with the Cardinals (10-3) in almost every match of the night, but Louisville proved to be the more opportunistic team and took advantage of each late-match opportunity to achieve the victory.
Freshman No. 1 seed Natalia Prinz pushed Louisville’s Leslie Stewart to a third set, but fell to the more experienced senior by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. In No. 3 seed action, freshman Monica Lyskawa fell to Kelly Taylor, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, in another three-set thriller.
Freshman Kathryn Gerber gave Natalie Laszkowski all she could handle in No. 4 singles, but eventually fell by a score of 3-6, 5-7. Junior No. 5 seed Raynie Theis hung tough with Suzanna Gracanin before bowing out by the score of 6-4, 6-3.
West Virginia’s only victory of the day came in No. 2 doubles where the duo of Prinz and sophomore Kelly Walsh led Laszkowski and Taylor, 7-6, in the first set before winning by default. Despite the victory at the second spot, the Mountaineers were unable to come through at the No. 1 or No. 3 positions, thus losing the doubles point to the Cardinals.
“The final score wasn’t indicative of how close this match was today,” coach Dan Silverstein says. “We had our share of opportunities but we were unable to capitalize. When you have a team as young as we do, you have to go through your share of growing pains. This team is talented and will succeed as long they continue to play as hard as they did today.”
The Mountaineers return to action on Sunday, Feb. 27, when they host Toledo at 2 p.m. in Pittsburgh.
Singles
No. 1 Leslie Stewart (UL) def. Natalia Prinz (WVU), 3-6, 6-4, 10-5
No. 2 Robyn White (UL) def. Kelly Walsh (WVU), 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Kelly Taylor (UL) def. Monica Lyskawa (WVU), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 Natalie Laszkowski (UL) def. Kathryn Gerber (WVU), 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 Suzanna Gracanin (UL) def. Raynie Theis (WVU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 Ariana Marshall (UL) def. Stacey Percival (WVU), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 Stewart/Gracanin (UL) def. Theis/Percival (WVU), 8-3
No. 2 Prinz/Walsh (WVU) def. Laszkowski/Taylor (UL), 7-6 def.
No. 3 Marshall/White (UL) def. Lyskawa/Gerber 6-3, 6-1
