April 20, 2008

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HOUSTON - The top-seeded Golden Hurricane of Tulsa (21-5) won their second consecutive C-USA Women's Tennis Championship on Sunday when they ousted No. 2 Marshall, 4-1. TU fell behind early when it lost the doubles point, but rallied back to take singles victories at Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 for its second women's tennis title in program history.

TU cut through the conference championship in impressive fashion again this year, outscoring its opponents 12-1 over its three matches. Tulsa becomes the league's first repeat winner since Tulane won the title in 2003-05.

No. 50 Marshall opened the day by winning a hotly contested doubles point.

The 31st-ranked pair of Kellie Schmitt and Karolina Soor took the victory at the top spot, 8-5, over Alexandra Kichoutkin and Carla Zabaleta. At No. 2, Thalia Diaz-Barriga and Marta Marcinkowska downed Jeanne Schwartz and Isabell Raich, 8-2, to even things up. Marshall's duo at No. 3, Jessica Keener and Thaddea Lock proved to be too much for TU's Jie Zeng and Rebecca Row and escaped with an 8-5 win to grab the early advantage.

TU then grabbed the momentum back early on in the singles phase, with Row cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Raich on court four to even things up at 1-1.

Thalia Diaz-Barriga then put TU ahead 2-1 with her straight-set win at No. 2, 6-1, 6-4.

Marta Marcinkowska's effort at No. 4 pushed her team to the brink of the title as she finished off Lock at No. 4, 6-2, 6-1.

The match looked like it would be decided at No. 3 where Zabaleta was up a set on Soor and leading 5-2 in the second, but Soor kept battling, despite facing match point four times.

In the meantime, No. 125 Kichoutkin was in the process of storming past No. 53 Schmitt at No. 1. Kichoutkin, a freshman, was down 4-2 in the first set, but came back to win in a tie-breaker, 7-6. She then grabbed all the momentum and cruised to a 6-1 second set tally to clinch the match and the title for TU.

Tulsa's next action will be determined after the draw for the 2008 NCAA Championship is set. The field will be announced on April 29.

Marshall finished its season at 17-9 and was playing in its seventh women's tennis conference championship, its second consecutive as a member of C-USA.