HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Virginia Tech women's tennis team dropped a tough 4-3 decision Wednesday afternoon at Marshall in a match played at Cabell Midland High School. Marshall, ranked No. 62 nationally, improved to 14-8 overall with the win, while the Hokies, ranked No. 56 nationally, fell to 14-10.

Marshall won the tight doubles competition for the first point then split the six singles matches for the victory.

With the Thundering Herd leading 1-0, Marshall won the No. 4 singles match as Isabell Raich defeated J.J. Larson (Sr., Orchard Park, N.Y.), 6-4, 6-1, before Tech got on the board with a 6-2, 6-4, victory at No. 3 by Jessica Long (Sr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) over Jeanne Schwartz. Marshall increased the lead to 3-1 as Kellie Schmitt, ranked No. 58 nationally, defeated Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad Salzuflen, Germany), 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1. Tech tied the match as Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.) won her No. 6 contest, 7-6 (4), 6-0, versus Thaddea Lock and Jessica Brouwer (Jr., Maarssen, Netherlands) won a tough 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, battle against Jessica Keener in the No. 5 event.

With the match outcome hanging in the balance, Karolina Soor edged Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt), ranked No. 120, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 1 to clinch the match.

The contest opened with the Thundering Herd winning the doubles competition. Schmitt/Soor, ranked 26^th nationally, defeated Brouwer/Larson, 8-2, at No. 1, but the Hokies leveled the competition with a 8-3 victory at No. 3 by Beermann/Johnson over Yulia Kashelkina/Keener. Marshall won the doubles point as Raich/Schwartz took a 8-6 win at No. 2 versus Hamza/Long.

The Hokies will close out the regular season this weekend hosting No. 7 Duke (Sat., noon) and No. 15 North Carolina (Sun., 10 a.m.). The first 50 fans to Saturday's Duke match will receive a free VT hat and the first 100 fans to Sunday's UNC contest will receive a free VT Tennis mini-ball. Prior to Sunday's match, seniors Bethan James, Jessica Long and J.J. Larson will be honored.