Sept. 21, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis women's tennis team wrapped up solid performances at the Steve Baras Fall Classic and the William and Mary Invitational this weekend. The tournament marked the second Fall tournament for the team, after competing at the Blue and Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala., last weekend.

Ashley Murdock, a Second Team C-USA performer last season for the Lady Tigers, defeated Ohio State's Cami Hubbs, a sophomore from Omaha, Neb., 6-1, 2-6, 12-10. Hubbs was 22-4 in singles competition last year for the Buckeyes. Murdock is coming off of a season in which she finished 15-4 in singles dual matches last year. The William and Mary Invitational was the first competition she has seen so far this Fall.

Murdock lost her first round match to the 94th-ranked singles player, Katarina Zoricic, 6-3, 6-1. Following her defeat of Ohio State's Hubbs, she was defeated by Miami of Florida's Biana Eickhorn, 6-3, 6-0. Eickhorn is the 109th-ranked singles player in the country. Murdock bounced back from the loss in her fourth and final match, defeating Miami of Ohio's Anastasia Dracheva, 6-4, 6-3.

In the Steve Baras Fall Classic, U of M junior Dara Toulch advanced all the way to the the Women's B2 Singles Final, where she won the first set, 6-4, but dropped the final two sets of the match, 6-4, 6-0, to Middle Tennessee's Marlene Chernin. Toulch, a junior from Montreal, Quebec, won her first match against UT-Martin's Ernestine Koornhoff, 6-3, 6-1. She followed that performance with another win over Beata Knizat of Tennessee-Chattanooga, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. Toulch advanced to the finals of her flight, with a defeat of Kennesaw's Morgan Carney.

Marjorie Ondeck lost her two singles matches in Williamsburg, falling 6-3, 6-4 to Richmond's Erin Clark and losing, 6-1, 6-3, to Boston College's Lauren Cash.

Ondeck and Murdock lost two doubles matches early on in the tournament, falling to William and Mary's Zoricic and Ragini Acharya, 8-2 and Boston College's Katarina Gagic and Alina Sullivan, 8-4. The pair won their next two matches, defeating Richmond's duo of Clark and Xenia Schneider, 8-6, and Elon's Anna Milian and Elisa Simonetti, 8-2.

Amanda Brown and Lindsey Wiseman both won their opening matches at the Steve Baras Fall Classic. Brown won her second round match and fell in the third round. Wiseman fell in the second round. Kristin Chamberlain lost both of her matches in Chattanooga.

The Memphis women's tennis team will travel to the ITA All-American Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif., next week.

Dara Toulch
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Toulch def. Koornhof(UTM), 6-3, 6-1
Toulch def. Knizat (UTC), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
Toulch def. Carney (KENN), 6-2, 6-3
Chernin (MTSU) def. Toulch, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
Lindsey Wiseman
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Wiseman def. Smyers (WOFF), 6-2, 6-1
Araya (MTSU) def. Wiseman, 6-3, 6-3
Amanda Brown
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Brown def. Coffey (MTSU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
Brown def. Ferris (JAX ST), 6-2, 6-4
Sheroan (SIU) def. Brown, 6-1, 6-2
Kristin Chamberlain
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Lopes (JAX ST) def. Chamberlain, 7-6, 6-3
Hanstefer (UTC) def. Chamberlain, 6-1, 6-0
Marjorie Ondeck
William and Mary Invitational
Clark (RICH) def. Ondeck, 6-3, 6-4
Ondeck defaulted over Lukomskaya, Arkansas
Cash (BC) def. Ondeck, 6-1, 6-3
Ashley Murdock
No. 94 Zoricic (W&M) def. Murdock, 6-3, 6-1
Murdock def. Hubbs (OSU), 6-21, 2-6, 12-10
Eickhorn (MIA) def. Murdock, 6-3, 6-0
Murdock def. Dracheva (MIA-OH), 6-4, 6-3
Chamberlain/Toulch
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Knizat/Robinette (UTC) def. Chamberlain, Toulch, 8-2
Brown/Wiseman
Steve Baras Fall Classic
Shkundina/Tanaka (KENN) def. Brown/Wiseman, 8-5
Murdock/Ondeck
Acharya/Zoricic(W&M) def. Murdock/Ondeck, 8-2
Gajic/Sullivan (BC) def. Murdock/Ondeck, 8-4
Murdock/Ondeck def. Clark/Schneider (RICH), 8-6
Murdock/Ondeck def. Milian/Simonetti (ELON), 8-2