For the fifth-straight season, the University of Memphis women's tennis team has refused to stumble at home, finishing this season with a 7-0 sweep of Marquette University Sunday.
The win extended the Tigers' home-winning streak to 39 matches and they won all six home matches this season.
Memphis head coach Lee Taylor Walker was relieved after the match to finish with yet another unblemished home record.
"It was great," he said after the match. "To get through another season without a home loss, it's something I don't take for granted because last year's schedule, especially, and this year's was much harder. It's exciting to get through another season undefeated at home."
Junior Alyssa Hibberd and freshman Marta Morga scored Memphis' first point of the day with an 8-2 doubles win in the third slot.
Redshirt senior Liza Tymchenko and sophomore Skylar Kuykendall followed with a doubles win of their own in the No. 1 slot. They notched an 8-1 win with a dominating showing at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
Tymchenko kept the ball rolling in singles, winning her No. 5 match in straight sets. The Ukraine native transferred to the U of M in 2012 after playing WTA tournaments in Ukraine from 2009-11.
Hibberd and Morga were the next two Tigers to post wins, both winning in straight sets. Morga was named the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week last week.
Kuykendall and sophomore Caroline Wegner also wrapped up their singles matches with victories.
The Tigers (13-7) had locked up a victory long before, but all eyes were on the final match of the day. Stefanie Mikesz, a senior, was playing her final home match at the U of M.
The Germany native won her final match in a decisive-third set after winning the opening set 6-0.
The senior said she was happy to have had a great four years in Memphis.
"It was really emotional. I cried before I even started playing," Mikesz said laughing. "It's crazy how fast everything flies. I feel like I just got here, and now it's my last home match. It's bittersweet because, yeah, I'm happy, it was a great four years, but, obviously, my last home match is really sad."
The win moved Mikesz into sixth on Memphis' all-time wins list with 164 victories. She also moved into sixth in all-time singles wins with 80. In her four years, the Tigers and Mikesz have never lost a match at home as a team.
Walker couldn't believe Mikesz career was coming to a close.
"It has just flown by with (Mikesz)," the seventh-year coach said. "I remember the first time she got here. It was the first year we were officially with the Racquet Club, practicing out here with her. It's just crazy what she has done and moving on. I'm happy she could get a win today to close out, and I'm just real thankful for all she has done for our program and all she has done for the community and club and all the players on our team. She's been awesome."
Mikesz and the Tigers aren't done yet, though. They travel to the University of Tulsa on Saturday to face the Golden Hurricanes.
Tulsa has had the Tigers number over the last four years, beating the Blue and Gray every time they've matched up. Mikesz wants to notch a victory over them before she leaves the U of M.
"It's the last time I'm gonna play Tulsa," she said. "Obviously, I would like to beat them, because we never did. We came close the last couple of matches. It came down to my match at conference last year, so, obviously, we want to go out there and beat them and go for conference. We're going with the mindset we want to win, but everybody does that. Hopefully, we can adjust and do what we want to do."
After the matchup with Tulsa, Memphis competes in the American conference tournament in Tampa, Fla., April 17-20.
Walker said he has a lot of confidence in his team right now, and the players are peaking at the right time.
"It's been a tough year," Walker said. "It's just been up and down and up and down. Last Saturday after North Texas was the first time I felt like everybody was getting confident and coming together, so it's just perfect timing for us going into Tulsa and conference championships."
The team has never won conference.
"Tulsa is definitely good though, and it's something we've never done is beat them, so it's definitely going to be tough," Walker said. "I don't want to act like it's a routine thing we're about to do, but we're confident we can do both."
