Blue Raiders Fall to Marshall, 5-2

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee won the doubles point but managed just one singles victory, dropping a 5-2 decision to 58th-ranked Marshall Sunday in Barboursville, W.V. in women's tennis action.

The Blue Raiders (4-7) lost their second match in two days, this one to a deep Marshall squad. Middle Tennessee dropped a 6-1 decision to Penn State on Saturday.

Head coach Alison Ojeda made a last-minute change in her doubles lineup and it paid off with a pair of victories.

Senior Hala Sufi and junior Claudia Szabo posted perhaps their biggest win of the season, defeating Marshall's 27th-ranked Kellie Schmitt and Lynzee Kever, 8-2, at No. 1. The Thundering Herd evened the doubles with a victory at No. 2, as Karolina Soor and Thaddea Lock won 8-4 over Stephanie Parkison and Ann-Kristin Siljestrom.

Middle Tennessee claimed the doubles point with a tiebreaker win at No. 3. Marlene Chemin and Pooja Kommireddi defeated Yulia Kashelkina and Jessica Keener, 9-8 (5), giving the Blue Raiders the first point of the match.

But Marshall came back to claim five of the six singles outings, including four in straight sets.

Keener defeated Kommireddi, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6, before Soor won 6-3, 6-4, over Siljestrom at No. 2. Schmitt, ranked 28th in singles, ended a six-match winning streak for 53rd-ranked Sufi at No. , 6-2, 6-4.

Yulia Kashelkina won 6-2, 6-4, over Chemin at No. 3 and Jeanne Schwartz defeated Parkison, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, at No. 5.

Middle Tennessee's only singles victory came at No. 4, with Szabo taking care of Lock, 7-5, 6-1.

"We made a really late change in doubles and we played well and won the doubles point, but then we struggled in singles because we didn't make the necessary adjustments," Ojeda said. "Claudia did a really great job to get her victory. She's been working so hard and it's finally starting to pay off."

Middle Tennessee does not play again until Monday, March 12, starting a six-match homestand with an outing against Texas A&M at 1 p.m. at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.

#58 Marshall 5, Middle Tennessee 2
SINGLES
1. (28) Kellie Schmitt (MAR) def. (53) Hala Sufi (MT), 6-2, 6-4
2. Karolina Soor (MAR) def. Ann-Kristin Siljestrom (MT), 6-3, 6-4
3. Yulia Kashelkina (MAR) def. Marlene Chemin (MT), 6-2, 6-4
4. Claudia Szabo (MT) def. Thaddea Lock (MAR), 7-5, 6-1
5. Jeanne Schwartz (MAR) def. Stephanie Parkison (MT), 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
6. Jessica Keener (MAR) def. Pooja Kommireddi (MT), 6-1, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6,2,1,4,3*,5

DOUBLES
1. Sufi-Szabo (MT) def. (27) Schmitt-Lynzee Kever (MAR), 8-2
2. Lock-Soor (MAR) def. Parkison-Siljestrom (MT), 8-4
3. Chemin-Kommireddi (MT) def. Kashelkina- Keener (MAR), 9-8 (5)
Order of Finish: 1,2,3*

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