Marshall University’s tennis team will look to stay unbeaten at home with two matches against University of Louisville and University of Minnesota this weekend at the Huntington Tennis Club.
The Thundering Herd is coming off a two-match sweep last weekend with 7-0 and 6-1 victories over Morehead State University and Eastern Kentucky University.
Freshman Marija Bogicevic set the bar against Morehead State with a dominating victory in singles, 6-2, 6-1. Bogicevic and her doubles partner, senior Kai Broomfield cruised in their match, 6-2.
Bogicevic lead the way against EKU as well with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep in singles. Sophomore Rachael Morales and freshman Maddie Silver headed the effort in doubles with a 6-2 victory in the No.2 spot.
Morales and Silver are 3-1 in their first season as doubles partners. Morales was doubles partners with Broomfield last season.
“I think every match is a learning experience,” Morales said. “Every match we build on our chemistry.”
The Herd will face familiar faces this weekend as the team matched up against Louisville and Minnesota on the road last season. Marshall was able to pick up a 5-2 win against the Golden Gophers but dropped its match against the Cardinals, 4-3.
Marshall and Minnesota enter the weekend at 3-2, while Louisville rides a 9-1 record into competition.
Morales came up short in each of her matches against these teams last year but got a chance to see some of her potential competition for this season in the process. As a freshman Silver has not received that benefit in her Herd career but said she prefers to go into her matches blind.
“We don’t do much scouting,” Silver said. “If we did, it could throw off our game to seeing how well our opponents play.”
If the Herd can sweep the weekend it will be the first 5-0 home start since 2011-2012 when the team finished the season a perfect 7-0 at the Huntington Tennis Club.
First serve against Louisville is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday while the Minnesota matchup is 11 a.m. Sunday.
Adam Polsky can be contacted at [email protected].