Marshall University’s women’s tennis team lost to Utah University 4-3 Monday at the Huntington Tennis Club.

The Herd, ranked at 55, won all of the doubles matches, but only freshman Maddie Silver won in singles against Utah, ranked 73 in the nation.

Number one doubles team of Derya Turhan and Anna Pomyatinska beat Utah 8-3. The Marshall pair began the match with a 4-love lead. Utah’s top doubles pair Tereza Bekerova and Margo Pletcher are ranked 31 in the nation in doubles, according to Marshall’s athletic department.

Head coach John Mercer said he thought the team played well through doubles.

“Derya and Anna taking out a ranked team is big for us,” Mercer said. “They’ve been playing really well together and it’s been fun watching them grow and develop as a solid team for us.”

Sophomore Rachael Morales and her doubles partner, Silver, won their match 8-7.

Morales said although Utah is ranked lower than the Herd, Utah was a strong opponent.

“Overall as a team, we really came out with a lot of energy and that was really good against a tough team like Utah,” Morales said.

The Herd played Utah after a win over the weekend against Penn State, coach Mercer’s alma mater.

“Definitely beating Penn State gave us a lot of confidence to go into this match because Penn State’s one of the tougher teams that I think we’ve played so far,” Morales said.

Mercer said the Herd getting the doubles point for the evening, against an opponent like Utah was huge.

The Herd faces Cincinnati University 4 p.m. Friday away and then head to Morgantown Sunday to play West Virginia University.

Kasey Madden can be contacted at [email protected].