Women’s Tennis Uses Depth of Lineup for 4-3 Victory

Friday, January 20

Memphis, Tenn.

9:00 am

University of Memphis

UAB

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Women’s Tennis Uses Depth of Lineup for 4-3 Victory

Jan 20, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Memphis 4, UAB 3 (1/20/17)

Josephine Cao clinches win with win at six singles.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis women's tennis team won the doubles point to start the match and would need it to edge UAB (1-2) in a 4-3 non-conference win at The Racquet Club of Memphis, Friday. The two teams would split the six singles matches evenly, with UAB taking three-set decisions at the top three singles slots while Memphis grabbed straight sets wins at four, five and six to clinch the victory.

"It was a great team effort today," Head Coach Hayden Perez said. "I was proud of how the team competed! Our freshmen really came out hot today and that was good to see. We are looking forward to the challenges ahead of us."

Memphis jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to wins at two and three doubles. The two teams played out the match at one, where UAB grabbed a 6-4 win.

The match score went to 2-0 Tigers following Marta Morga's straight set win at four singles, 6-3, 6-1, but UAB got on the board after that with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win at two singles.

With just four indoor courts, freshman Katherine Cao did not get on the court to start her match until Morga's match was finished, but the Kansas native blitzed her opponent, 6-0, 6-1 to push Memphis ahead 4-3.

But again UAB had an answer right after the Tiger point, as the Blazers picked up a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 win at three singles to pull to 3-2 down.

Memphis junior Anki Wind had battled back from a first set loss, then won the second tiebreak 7-6 against Pardis Kianoush, but found herself down 4-1 in the third as UAB tried to even the match. Wind held, then broke and got back to 4-3 down, but the long points started to take their toll. She broke again to get to 5-4 down. On her serve, Wind was battling at deuce when a ball from the match at six rolled in to play on the court at one, forcing a let. Wind's second attempt to close out her serve and get to 5-5 hit the net and sealed a 6-4 UAB win in the third set, tying the match at three-all.

On the court next to the match at one, freshman Josephine Cao had also jumped out to a fast start, dropping just one game in her opening set. As she led 1-0 in the second set, all eyes moved to her court. But the freshman kept her nerve and stayed on the gas and broke her opponent's serve at love to seal a 6-1 second set win that gave the Tigers a 4-3 victory to open the season.

Memphis' next match will be next Saturday at Lipscomb, a team that UAB edged 4-3 on the road in Nashville a little under a week ago.

Memphis' match against Chattanooga that was scheduled to be played on Sunday has been rescheduled for Jan. 29^th at 10 a.m. at the Adams Tennis Center in Murfreesboro.

Memphis 4, UAB 3
Doubles
No. 1 – Pardis Kianoush/Marlene Herrmann (UAB) def. Anki Wind/Katherine Cao (Memphis), 6-4
No. 2 – Hanna Sohn/Josephine Cao (Memphis) def. Hana Sisirak/Reghan Lynch (UAB), 6-2
No. 3 – Gabrielle Paul/Marta Morga (Memphis) def. Sophie Dodds/McKenna Root (UAB), 6-3
Singles
No. 1 – Pardis Kianoush (UAB) def. #91 Anki Wind (Memphis), 6-3, 6-7, 6-4
No. 2 – Marlene Herrmann (UAB) def. Hanna Sohn (Memphis), 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
No. 3 – Reghan Lynch (UAB) def. Gabrielle Paul (Memphis), 6-2, 6-7, 6-4
No. 4 – Marta Morga (Memphis) def. Hana Sisirak (UAB), 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 – Katherine Cao (Memphis) def. Taylor Factor (UAB), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 – Josephine Cao (Memphis) def. Natalie Voss (UAB), 6-1, 6-1