NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion University women’s tennis team will be right back in action this Friday at 1:00 p.m. against their second C-USA foe in just three days with Marshall visiting the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center this time around.
Manilla discussed the crucial upcoming match, “Last year when we played Marshall, we lost to them 4-3 at their place. The year before that, we lost to them 4-3 at a neutral site. So this is our first opportunity to play Marshall at home. This season, they have been in and out of the national rankings, and we have been in and out of the national rankings. We hope to get Marshall this time around and have the opportunity to compete for the three seed in the conference standings.”
The Lady Monarchs defeated ECU on Wednesday and have now won two consecutive, three of their last four and six of their last eight matches.
With the win, the Lady Monarchs advance their record to 9-4. On Wednesday against the Pirates, the Lady Monarchs tandem of Nikol Hristova and Melissa Esnal Olguin took down East Carolina’s Dana Gray and Maria Storozheva 8-4. Sealing the double’s point deal for Old Dominion on Court No. 2, was the fabulous freshmen duo of Ingrid Vojcinakova and Marijana Novakovic handling ECU’s Michelle Castro and Nicole LaDuca, 8-2.
In No. 1 singles, Nikol Hristova made quick work of Melis Tanik, 6-2, 6-1. Hristova, just a sophomore, is now 8-2 on the season while playing at the top spot for the Lady Monarchs.
Marijana Novakovic was next off the courts, as she was too much for ECU’s Nicole LaDuca (6-1, 6-3). Novakovic’s victory at No. 4 singles, gave Old Dominion a 3-0 advantage over the Pirates.
Ingrid Vojcinakova proved her resiliency by winning a marathon of a first set 7-5 over Michelle Castro, and then took the second set 6-2 to clinch the game, set and match for the Lady Monarchs.
The victory over East Carolina puts the Lady Monarchs at a 7-1 record at home and 9-1 against unranked opponents. Marijana Novakovic returned to the No. 4 spot against ECU, where she is 2-0 on the season. The doubles team of Hristova and Melissa Esnal Olguuin have won three matches in a row and post an 8-2 overall record.
Meet Marshall (10-5)
This will be Marshall’s first conference game of the year. The Thundering Herd is just 3-5 on the road this season, but have statement wins against No. 57 Penn State and No. 74 Liberty. They are also coming off two losses to ranked foes No. 27 Utah and No. 71 BYU. Marshall has been ranked as high as No. 70 in the ITA rankings. They are led by Danna Oppinger who posts an 8-8 record but has played a very difficult schedule. At the No. 4 spot Freshman Anna Pomyatinskaya is 11-4 and has won four out of her last five matches.
John Mercer is in his 12th season at Marshall University and his 28th year coaching at the NCAA Division I level. He led the Thundering Herd to a No. 28 ranking in his 2009-2010 campaign, where his team ended up losing in the finals of the conference tournament.
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