Goucher Women's Tennis Heads To Moravian For Landmark Conference Semifinals On Wednesday

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Goucher College women's tennis team begins its quest for its first Landmark Conference Tournament title when the No. 4 Gophers travel to top seed Moravian College in the conference semifinals on Wednesday, May 1 at the Hoffman Tennis Courts in Bethlehem, Pa., at 4:00 p.m. The match is free and open to the public.

The Gophers won its final three conference matches and five matches overall to finish 4-3 in league play and clinch its first Landmark Conference Tournament berth since 2013. In the other semifinal matchup, No. 2 University of Scranton (10-6, 6-1 Landmark) will host No. 3 Elizabethtown College (10-3, 5-2 Landmark) at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The winner of the Gophers-Greyhounds match and the Royals-Blue Jays match will meet in the Landmark Conference Championship Game this weekend. If Goucher wins its match on Wednesday, it would travel to the winner of the other semifinal match in the championship game.

Moravian College will be providing live stats and a live stream of the semifinal match for fans unable to attend.

Goucher and Moravian will square off for the second time this season in Pennsylvania after the Greyhounds defeated the Gophers 8-1 on April 7. Anais Gill (Cambridge, England/Hills Road Sixth From College) and Mandile Mpofu (Harare, Zimbabwe/Arundel School) won at No. 1 doubles to register the Goucher team point in the match.

Gill and Mpofu are 9-6 on the year as a tandem and 4-1 in conference matches. Tes DeJaeger (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) and Haddie Hill (San Antonio, Texas/The Episcopal School of Texas) are 2-5 on the year in doubles and 2-3 in league play while Ali Tomasevich (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) and Ali Gorson-Morrow (Broomall, Pa./Barrack Hebrew Academy) have come on strong toward the end of the season and are 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the circuit in doubles action.

Gill holds a 13-7 mark in singles and 5-2 in Landmark action. The freshman has played all of her singles matches but one at No. 1 singles. Mpofu is 11-5 on the year and 2-2 in the circuit including an 8-2 mark at No. 2 doubles.

Hill is 7-8 on the year No. 2, 3 and 4 singles while holding a 3-3 record in conference matches. DeJaeger is 4-7 on the year and 3-3 in league play while holding a 4-3 combined record at No. 3 and 4 singles.

Katie Marzerka (Wolfeboro, N.H./Kingswood Regional), who has played mainly in the middle of the lineup, also reached 10 wins this season and holds a 10-6 singles record and 4-1 mark in Landmark action. Kyoko Kinoshita (Tokyo, Japan/Tilton School [N.H.]) is 4-5 on the year and 3-2 in the circuit in the bottom four spots of the lineup. Morgan Hartman (Woodstock, Vt./Woodstock Union) is 7-3 on the year including 3-0 in the league. The sophomore is 5-1 at No. 6 singles. 

Goucher will be making their fifth appearance in the Landmark Conference postseason. The Gophers are 2-4 in the Landmark postseason and 0-2 against Moravian. The two teams met in the semifinal in 2008 and in the 2009 championship match with the Greyhounds taking both meetings. The squad advanced to the championship game twice in program history while Steve Baum, who is in his first season since inheriting the team from his mother, legendary longtime head coach Sally Baum, looks to bring home the team's first title. Goucher has already clinched is first non-losing regular season record and winning Landmark Conference mark since 2013.