COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri women's tennis team began its 2018 spring season on Saturday against Missouri of the SEC at the Mizzou Tennis Complex. The Redhawks fell to the Tigers, 5-0, but received a huge doubles win from Alessandra Maya Thompson and Oleksandra Doroshenko.
 
"I am super proud of how the team played today," head coach Mary Beth Gunn said of the spring opener. "Mizzou is a tough team and we proved that we can compete at this level. It was a huge confidence boost to win at No. 2 doubles and have close sets at the five and six singles positions."
 
Maya Thompson and Doroshenko registered the lone win for Southeast in the dual with a 6-1 victory at the No. 2 position over Mizzou's #47-ranked (Oracle/ITA National Doubles Rankings) doubles team Serena Nash and Clare Raley. The Tigers then took the next two doubles matches to claim the doubles point.
 
On the singles side, Mizzou clinched all four points in straight sets but SEMO competed hard at the fifth and sixth singles spots, which did not finish their matches. Anais Emelie dropped the first set to Raley, 6-4, at the No. 5 position and Maya Thompson lost the first set of her No. 6 singles match in tiebreak to Taylor Gruber, 7-6 (7-4).
 
SEMO next faces Central Arkansas tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the Mizzou Tennis Complex in Columbia, Missouri.
 
MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS 
DOUBLES (order of finish: 2,1, 3)
Amina Ismail/Taylor Gruber (MIZ) def. Isabella Krupa/Kseniya Zonova (SEMO), 6-2
Oleksandra Doroshenko/Alessandra Maya Thompson (SEMO) def. Serena Nash/Clare Raley (MIZ), 6-1
Mackenzy Middlebrooks/Ellie Wright (MIZ) def. Anais Emelie/Maja Lundell (SEMO), 6-1
 
SINGLES (order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1)
Serena Nash (MIZ) def. Oleksandra Doroshenko (SEMO), 6-1, 6-2
Ellie Wright (MIZ) def. Isabella Krupa (SEMO), 6-1, 6-1
Mackenzy Middlebrooks (MIZ) def. Kseniya Zonova (SEMO), 6-1, 6-2
Amina Ismail (MIZ) def. Kelly Sicha (SEMO), 6-2, 6-1
Clare Raley (MIZ) vs. Anais Emelie (SEMO), 6-4, suspended DNF
Taylor Gruber (MIZ) vs. Alessandra Maya Thompson (SEMO), 7-6 (4), suspended DNF