March 15, 2005
By Roland Hu, USD Media Relations This Week in Torero Tennis: The University of San Diego (5-5) will tackle three ranked teams this week at the USD West Tennis Courts. First up will be No. 75 Yale University (8-2), who visits on Wednesday at 1:30 P.M. No. 71 Marshall (6-5) will face the Toreros on Thursday morning at 9:30 P.M. and No. 73 Washington State (2-8) will come to USD on Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M.
Recap of Last Week's Action: The University of San Diego hosted the West Coast Conference Challenge last week and swept through the tournament with relative ease. On Friday, the Toreros faced the USF Lady Dons (5-6) and dispatched their Northern Californian rival 7-0. San Diego started the afternoon off well, as the doubles teams only lost a total of six games between the three of them. The great play carried on into the singles matches, as five of the six contests were won by USD in straight sets. Jenny Brown was pushed to a third set tiebreaker, but prevailed over Anna Skorgerboe 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (8). On Sunday morning, St. Mary's College came into town and San Diego sent them home packing, as the home team won 7-0. Led by senior Tara Livesay and junior Emma Murphy, the Toreros won five of the six singles matches in straight sets. Sophomore Jenna Anderson made her season debut a memorable one with her 6-3, 6-4 victory over Stef Ordoveza.
About Yale: The Bulldogs enter Wednesday's contest with an impressive record of 8-2, with their last victim being Syracuse University on March 14. The team is led by senior Reshmi Srinath and sophomores Rashmee Patil, Aimee Kim, and Christine Alford. Yale is coached by Chad Skorupka, who is in his fourth year at the helm of the tennis program, and the Bulldogs have won 43 of 60 matches under his guidance.
About Marshall: The Herd come to San Diego with an overall record of 6-5. The squad is lead by senior Ashley Kroh, who reached last year's NCAA Doubles Final with graduated partner Jessica Johnson, and Kroh was recently named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week. In addition, fellow seniors Joelle Good, Danielle Hock, and Lille Nzudie will provide depth in both singles and doubles action. John Mercer begins his third year as the head coach of the Herd, though he was an assistant coach at Marshall from 1994 to 2003.
About Washington State: Despite traveling to San Diego with a record of 2-7, the Cougars are still a dangerous team. Many of their losses stem from their play in the Pacific-10 Conference, the toughest league in the country. A trio of seniors will lead Washington State in both singles and doubles play: Nora Gaal, Chris Martinez, and Orsolya Sallai. Sophomore Amy Toth and freshman Ekaterina Burduli will also contribute in singles and doubles. Lisa Hart is in her second season as the head coach of the Cougars.
Toreros in the Rankings: Junior Emma Murphy found herself ranked No. 30 in the nation when the latest polls came out on March 8. The national acclaim was a direct result of a great fall season, as the native of Cork, Ireland posted an 8-3 singles record. She reached the finals of the Southern California Regional Championships and took top honors at the San Diego State Fall Classic. In addition, she took No. 6 Dea Sumantri of Washington and No. 15 Nicole Leimbach of USC to three sets and defeated No. 18 Michaela Moldovan of Florida State in straight sets. The 2004 WCC Singles Player of the Year is also the seventh-best player in the West Region. In addition, junior Lauren Perl received a pre-season ranking of No. 24 in the difficult and deep West Region.
Stephens a Mainstay at San Diego: Sherri Stephens enters her 21st year as the head coach of the University of San Diego women's tennis program and is hoping to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. Her teams have been to the Big Dance nine previous seasons and Stephens has coached 5 NCAA Division I All-Americans, including Zuzanna Lesenarova, USD's first four-time All-American and 1999 NCAA Singles Champion. After Stephens completed her collegiate playing days at Arizona in 1979, she joined the coaching staff in Tucson as an assistant. She accepted the head coaching position at USD in 1984 and has developed a reputation as one of the most respected coaches in NCAA Division I tennis. Her overall record at Alcalá Park is 248-220.
Did You Know: Junior Lauren Perl's favorite TV show is Sex and the City and was upset when the hit show was canceled last year. The local product out of San Diego, Calif. is also a huge fan of boy bands, most notably the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, O'Town, and 98 Degrees. Perl lists her teammate Emma Murphy as her favorite Torero athlete to watch and admires Andy Roddick because of his intensity and desire to win every single point. For more information about Perl, please click here .
