Miami junior has yet to lose a tennis match

Martzolf is 19-0 from the RedHawks’ No. 3 singles spot.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 7:42 AM Monday, April 19, 2010

OXFORD — Playing tennis against Miami University’s Megan Martzolf is akin to pounding the ball against a brick wall.

No matter how hard you swing or how carefully you place the shot, the ball just keeps coming back.

“I like to run down shots,” Martzolf said. “I’m pretty tall, so I can reach pretty far, and they get pretty frustrated when you keep hitting the shots back when they think they’ve won the point.”

The frustration level is high for the opponents of Martzolf. The 5-foot-11 junior from Indianapolis won two matches over the weekend at Buffalo and Akron to run her record at No. 3 singles to 19-0.

The RedHawks also won both team matches, and they’re also on a streak with 14 consecutive Mid-American Conference victories over two years.

What makes these success stories so impressive is the fact that Martzolf and her teammates have had three head coaches over the past 10 months.

Howard Joffe, who guided Miami to its first NCAA tournament bid after the RedHawks won the MAC tournament championship last season, left to become head coach at Maryland on July 13.

David Emery, an assistant at Illinois, was named as Miami’s new head coach Aug. 17, but just three months later, Miami assistant Ricardo “Ricky” Rosas became interim head coach after Emery resigned.

“We all loved our last coach, Howard Joffe,” Martzolf said, “and we all love Ricky. He’s been here the whole time and helped us through all aspects.”

Martzolf had a good season as a sophomore — she was named to the All-MAC tournament team — but so far in her junior year she has been unbeatable. Martzolf isn’t sure what has caused the dramatic improvement.

“I haven’t been doing anything different,” she said, “just focusing on my matches. And not giving up. That’s always been a part of it. Staying positive throughout the entire match. I think that’s one of the biggest parts of my game — always keeping a positive attitude.”

Unity is the key to the team’s success, she said.

“Our whole team gets along really well, so you don’t want to win just for yourself, you want to win for the whole team,” Martzolf said.

“I think we have a really good chance (of going back to the NCAA tournament),” she added. “Our team works so well together. We’re all best friends.”

Miami (13-6, 6-0 MAC) will close out the regular season with matches this weekend at Eastern Michigan and Toledo.

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