WVU Closes Fall Season at Home

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team closes its fall season at home with the WVU Martha Thorn Invitational on Oct. 23-24.

The two-day event is round-robin style and includes competition from James Madison and Duquesne. Matches will be played indoors at Ridgeview Racquet Club and will begin at 8 a.m. each day.

Martha Thorn Invite Schedule

WVU opens singles play against James Madison on Friday, Oct. 23, followed by a round of doubles action against the Dukes. The Mountaineers close day one of the tournament against Duquesne in the afternoon session, followed by a round of doubles play.

Play resumes on Saturday, Oct. 24, when WVU faces JMU in singles action, followed by another round of doubles play. West Virginia will then wrap up the final day of the tournament when it battles Duquesne in singles, followed by a round of doubles play in the afternoon session.

“The team has to step up,” said WVU women’s tennis coach Miha Lisac, when asked about his expectations of the team in the last fall tournament. “It’s as simple and as complicated as that. We have worked on so many things, and we have played in a lot of tournaments this fall. It is time for the players to step up and compete. It’s plain and simple.”

Last week, the Mountaineers traveled to Lynchburg, Virginia, on Oct. 15-17 to compete at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Atlantic Regional, where six Mountaineers’ competed for West Virginia in the singles and doubles draw.

Shaker enters the final weekend of fall play with a team-best 9-1 singles record. Sophomores Lyn Yuen Choo (7-4) and Carolina Lewis (7-3) have each tallied seven singles wins thus far. Senior Hailey Barrett and sophomore Yvon Martinez, and Lewis and Choo are tied for a team-best 4-3 doubles record this fall season.

The Mountaineers will also honor former West Virginia coach Martha Thorn on her accomplishments as head coach at WVU on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Named the Mountaineers’ first head coach in 1974, coach Thorn led WVU to a 315-227-1 record. In 27 years, Thorn has coached 11 All-Atlantic 10 players, five Atlantic 10 All-Tournament players, three Freshman of the Year honorees and one Senior of the Year.

Thorn was named Coach of the Year in 1991. In that same year, Thorn led WVU to the Atlantic 10 Championship match, but fell to Penn State by a team score of 5-1. The Mountaineers finished the 1991 season with a 16-6 record.

“Coach Thorn built this program from the ground up,” Lisac noted. “She has been supporting this program for 40 years, and it is an incredible opportunity for us to recognize coaches and players from the past who helped the program get to where it is today.

“The program that we have now was built on the work that was done in the past, and coach Thorn was a huge part of that. It’s an incredible opportunity for us to recognize a very important person this weekend at the WVU Martha Thorn Invitational. I don’t think we would be where we are today if it wasn’t for coach Thorn.”

A recap will be available following each day of competition at WVUSports.com.

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