W&M Women’s Tennis Upsets No. 5 Duke, 4-3

Tribe Rookie Katarina Zoricic Comes Back to Win Decisive Match at Court Two

02/16/06 10:19PM

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - For the second straight season, the women’s tennis contest between William and Mary and Duke came down to the third set of the final singles match, and for the second straight time the Green and Gold prevailed in that set, as the 28th-ranked Tribe upset the fifth-ranked Blue Devils, 4-3, tonight at the College’s McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center.

The win improves W&M’s record to 7-2 this season, while Duke drops to 4-2.

“Coming off a big loss at Clemson on Sunday, we had to regroup coming into this match,” said W&M head coach Kevin Epley. “We didn’t feel like we played as well as we could have in that match, but we really came in and took care of business today. I told the team before the match that they needed to leave everything out on the court. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them today and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

W&M junior Megan Moulton-Levy (Monroe, MI) and rookie Katarina Zoricic (Etobicoke, Ontario) opened the contest with an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles over Kristin Cargill and Jackie Carleton. Duke’s Melissa Mang and Jennifer Zika, ranked 41st in the nation, responded by defeating senior Megan Muth (Covington, LA) and freshman Lauren Cash (Allendale, NJ), 8-6, at court two. That put the fate of the team doubles point resting on court three, where W&M senior Lingda Yang (Coconut Creek, FL) and freshman Emmy Fritz-Krockow (Fairfax, VA) had come all the way back from a 6-1 deficit against Tara Iyer and Jessi Robinson to tie the score at six games apiece. However, the Tribe lost its service game to trail, 7-6, and the Duke tandem held on to win the match, 8-6, giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the team match.

The Tribe didn’t waste any time in tying the contest once singles began, as Muth put the Green and Gold on the board with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Zika. Duke pulled back ahead with a come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, win by Mang over Cash at No. 4, but the Tribe quickly re-tied the score with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win by Yang on court six over Robinson. Moulton-Levy, the nation’s 11th-ranked singles player, put W&M ahead, 3-2, as she gutted out a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win in the top match over the 27th-ranked Carleton. Moments later, however, the Blue Devils re-gained the momentum and knotted the score at three with a win on court five by Cargill over Fritz-Krockow, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

The contest on court two was all that remained, with a pair of freshmen left to decide the clinching match. W&M’s Zoricic, ranked 50th in the nation, had dropped a close first set to Iyer, 7-5, but came back to decisively win the second, 6-2. Iyer appeared to have taken over in the third, winning the first three games and three of the first four, at one point serving for the team match with a 5-3, 40-15 advantage. Zoricic fended off the points and came back to take the game, then won her own service game to tie the set at five. Iyer held in the 11th and Zoricic did the same in the 12th to force the third-set tiebreker. Each player lost her serve twice within the first six points of the tie-breaker and Zoricic held a slim, 4-3 lead with two serves by Iyer coming up. However, the Duke player lost both of her service points to go down, 6-3, before Zoricic won on hers to win the set and the match, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

W&M returns to action on Sunday, when the Tribe travels to play at No. 59 Arkansas at 1:00 PM. Duke’s next match won’t come until Feb. 28, when the Blue Devils host Northwestern.

Match Notes: William and Mary improves to 16-7 against Duke since the start of the 1978-79 season ... The win extends the Tribe’s home winning streak to 23 consecutive matches, dating back to the 2004 season ... W&M’s last four wins over a team ranked among the top five in the nation have all come against Duke, starting with a 5-4 Tribe win over the then second-ranked Blue Devils at the MNTC on Jan. 29, 1999 ... W&M also defeated a fifth-ranked Duke team in Durham, 5-4, on Feb. 9, 2000 and 4-3 on March 2 of last season ... W&M’s first-year president Gene Nichol was in attendance from start to finish to watch his first Tribe tennis match.

#28 William and Mary 4, #5 Duke 3
Singles
1. #11 Megan Moulton-Levy (W&M) d. #27 Jackie Carleton; 7-6 (4), 6-2
2. #50 Katarina Zoricic (W&M) d. Tara Iyer; 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (3)
3. Megan Muth (W&M) d. Jennifer Zika; 6-2, 6-4
4. Melissa Mang (DU) d. Lauren Cash; 4-6, 6-0, 6-2
5. Kristin Cargill (DU) d. Emmy Fritz-Krockow; 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6. Lingda Yang (W&M) d. Jessi Robinson; 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Order of finish: 3, 4, 6, 1, 5, 2

Doubles
1. Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) d. Cargill/Carleton; 8-3
2. #41 Mang/Zika (DU) d. Cash/Muth; 8-6
3. Iyer/Robinson (DU) d. Fritz-Krockow/Yang; 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3