The Marshall University women’s tennis team wrapped up a close contest Sunday at the LU Invite. The LU Invite began on Saturday with Marshall, Liberty, East Carolina and William and Mary participating in the Exhibition Invitational.  

Head Coach John Mercer said on his impressions of the first Exhibition of the year, “It was good, I think we have a lot of talent. We really like our freshmen and how they performed, they have some really good matches. We only had 3 or 4 days of practice before going into it, so we kind of knew what we were getting into. But it was good, getting everyone back to speed and getting them back to college tennis.”  

 Madison Ballow, a leader and senior on the team, said about her team’s performance, “I thought it was good. We have a lot to improve and we’re a young team, which is nice. We have a lot of new people so we get to try new things. We also have an assistant this year, it was nice having someone else there to give an insight into our games and what he would like us to improve upon. There were a lot of positives and a lot of things we have to work on, it wasn’t perfect but overall, it was a good weekend.”  

In Saturday’s contest, Doubles action was first against Liberty and William & Mary. Lovato and Saraty of Liberty defeated Joseph of Marshall and Hussain of ECU, 6-4. Saric and Alhach of Liberty defeated Van Hansewyck and Stefancic of Marshall, 6-2. Clairotte and Vanderheyden of Marshall defeated Fernald and Gurholt of William and Mary, 6-4. Ballow and Gillar of Marshall defeated van Meeteren and Cricchio of William and Mary, 6-3. McGrane and Hurrion of Marshall defeated Manolescu and Fukutoku of William and Mary, 6-3.  

In singles, action against William and Mary and Libert was tough, with the Herd picking up three individual wins from Emma Vanderheyden, defeating Hedda Gurholt of William and Mary, 6-7 (8), 6-3, [13-11] for the first win. The next win came as Aisling McGrane defeated Kensie Cricchio of William and Mary, 6-4, 6-4. The third win came against Liberty with Liz Stefancic defeating Bruna Sampaio, 6-2, 6-2. 

In doubles action against ECU on Sunday, Rieke Gillar and Kara Joseph of Marshall defeated Ines Bachir el Bouhali and Anne Lou Champion 6-4. In singles action, Marshall picked up two wins Sunday with Marshall’s Emma Vanderheyden defeating Ines Bachir el Bouhali of ECU, 6-1, 2-6, [10-5] and Liz Stefancic def. Anne Lou Champion of ECU, 1-6, 6-2, [10-2].  

Marshall tennis will be on the courts to co-host “Thunder in the Mountains” with West Virginia University Sept. 24-26 in Charleston.