Feb. 11, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -

Results

A third set tiebreaker victory by freshman Robyn Jones helped the University of Memphis women's tennis team (4-1) walk away from the Pat M. Courington Tennis Center in Birmingham, Ala., with a victory over reigning two-time Ohio Valley Conference champion, Samford, 4-2, on Tuesday night. The match lasted a grueling six hours. With the win, the Tigers have now posted their best start since the 2000-01 season. The U of M lost to the Bulldogs last season, 6-1.

"I am just really proud of our whole team," said Memphis head coach Lee Taylor Walker. "Everybody on the whole team was just great. We just had great team unity."

Memphis took an early lead over Samford after taking the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, Ashley Murdock and Sarah Irvin upended Andrie Meiring and Rebecca Kirven, 8-5, to stay undefeated on the season with a 4-0 record. At the No. 2 doubles slot, Marjorie Ondeck and Robyn Jones defeated Shannon Hartmann and Jessica Diamond, 9-7. The Bulldogs came away with the victory at the No. 3 spot, with Taylor Morgan and Stephanie Parkison triumphing over Lindsey Wiseman and Amanda Brown, 8-5.

In singles play, Samford's Morgan upended Ondeck at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-2. With the loss, Ondeck moves to 5-3 on the dual season.

At No. 2 singles, Murdock, an All-C-USA performer last season, won the first set over Meiring, 6-2. Meiring came back to defeat Murdock in the second set, 6-2. In the third set, Murdock was victorious and picked up the victory over Meiring, 6-4. Murdock also moves to 5-3 on the season.

At the No. 3 spot, the U of M's Irvin defeated Samford's Kirven, 6-2, 6-0. Irvin's record now stands at 5-2 on the year.

In the competition for No. 4 singles, Toulch upended Hartmann in the first set, 6-4. Memphis' junior from Montreal, Quebec, fell in two-straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to lose the match.

With Memphis up 3-2 in the match and Samford's Diamond leading the U of M's Brown in No. 6 singles, the outcome of the match fell on the shoulder's of the Lady Tigers' Jones, a freshman from Baton Rouge, La. Samford's Parkison took the first set, 6-3. Jones battled back to take the second set, 6-3. The decision of the match came down to the third set. The set was tied at an even six games, forcing a tiebreaker. Jones took the tiebreaker and the match, solidifying a 4-2 victory for the Memphis Lady Tigers.

"Robyn really sealed the deal for us tonight," Walker said. "It is most clutch performance from an individual that I have seen since I have been coaching at the college level. It is even more impressive for a freshman to come through in the clutch like she. Robyn also did it in doubles with Marj (Ondeck). They came back from 7-6 to win the doubles point for us.

Earlier in the day, the U of M took down UAB, 4-0, for the first time in five years. Memphis has secured four-straight victories this season with defeats over Lipscomb, UT Martin, UAB and Samford. The Tigers only loss this season came at the hands of sixth-ranked Georgia in Athens in January. The U of M continues their road stretch with three matches in Texas. The Tigers will face UT-Arlington and SMU on Fri., Feb. 13 and Stephen F. Austin on Sun., Feb. 15.