This marks the senior’s tenth career accolade
IRVING, Texas – Marshall University’s women’s tennis senior Kellie Schmitt (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was selected as Conference USA Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office Wednesday.
“This is a great way to end my final regular season here at Marshall,” Schmitt said. “It feels good to be recognized for my performance, especially leading into conference play.”
This is Schmitt’s 10th career weekly honor and her third in 2009 (Jan. 20 and Feb. 3). The three honors this season are tied for the most in a single season for a women’s tennis player. Schmitt’s 10 career honors are the most ever for a C-USA women’s tennis player and are tied for fifth all-time for any C-USA student-athlete.
“Conference USA is a tough conference and I am honored to be associated with the other top student-athletes in the conference,” Schmitt added. “I never thought I would achieve these successes and I’m pleased to represent Marshall.”
Schmitt, the reigning two-time C-USA Women’s Tennis Player of the Year, went 3-0 at No. 1 singles and doubles as she led the Thundering Herd to victories over Louisville and Pittsburgh.
In No. 72 Marshall’s tough 4-3 loss to No. 62 Virginia Tech, the senior did her part as she teamed with partner Karolina Soor (Lindesburg, Sweden) to defeat the 56th-ranked pair of Jessica Brouwer and Holly Johnson, 8-5. In singles against the Hokies, No. 68 Schmitt downed Inga Beerman, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Against Pitt and Louisville, the senior was perfect at the top spots in the Herd lineup. With their doubles win against Pitt, the duo of Schmitt and Soor pushed their winning streak to five and it propelled Schmitt into the top spot on the team’s all-time doubles wins list with 108.
“Once again, this is an honor well earned through Kellie’s commitment and hard work over the past four years,” Marshall’s head coach John Mercer said. “We are very proud of her accomplishments the past four years. We look forward to watching her compete this weekend at conference.”
Marshall ended its regular season at 13-10 and will compete as the third seed behind the number two seed, Tulsa and the number one seed, SMU in the C-USA Championship this weekend. Rice University will host the championships in Houston, Texas with all matches played at the Jack Hess Tennis Center.
The Herd earned a first round bye and will begin championship action, Friday, at 3 p.m. (EST) against the winner of UAB and ECU, who compete Thursday at 3 p.m. (EST). UAB is the No. 11 seed, while the Pirates are the sixth seed.
Complete brackets and updates on the C-USA championship are available at www.conference.com or through the women’s tennis page at herdzone.com. Live stats can be viewed through Rice’s Web site at Riceowls.com.
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