CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (2-2, 0-0 OVC) continues its non-conference schedule this weekend with a pair of dual meets in Missouri and Arkansas after a small break from competition.
 
"The playing season is long and it's a marathon," head coach Mary Beth Gunn said. "Our focus is to keep players healthy and on the court for the whole season. Our team has been working on a few things in preparation for these upcoming matches and the players look reenergized and ready to play."
 
The Redhawks face Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri, on Friday at 7 p.m., CT and then travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for a Saturday meet against Arkansas of the Southeastern Conference at 2 p.m.
 
"Arkansas is a top 25 team in the nation; our goal is to engage them and to learn from them on the court," Gunn said of Saturday's dual. "We are just trying to improve with each match and take these nonconference matches as learning experiences before conference play."
 
SEMO enters the weekend after winning back-to-back meets over Bradley and Northern Illinois with identical scores of 4-3 on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27 in Peoria, Illinois.
 
The Redhawks swept all six doubles matches against Bradley and NIU to earn both doubles points. Oleksandra Doroshenko and Alessandra Maya Thompson currently lead Southeast with a 3-1 doubles dual record at the second position.
 
Kseniya Zonova posted a perfect 3-0 record over the weekend in Peoria, Illinois to earn adidas® Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Female Athlete of the Week honors on Jan. 31. Zonova teamed up with Isabella Krupa for both doubles wins at the top position and notched the deciding victory at No. 3 singles against Bradley.
 
Anais Emelie and Maya Thompson also recorded their first dual singles wins in 2018 at the fifth and sixth singles spots, respectively, against Bradley. Doroshenko and Krupa then tallied their first dual singles wins of the season on Saturday against NIU.
 
Missouri State faces Southeast in its fourth dual of the 2018 campaign on Friday at 7 p.m. The Bears have a 2-1 overall record but most recently fell to Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska, 7-0. MSU opened the season with a 7-0 win over SIUE of the OVC and edged Omaha, 4-3, last weekend. Missouri State was predicted to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference and returns seven members from its 2017 team.
 
Arkansas (2-3) faces the Redhawks in its second meet on Saturday at 2 p.m. after taking on Wichita State in a morning tilt. The Razorbacks split their pair of duals in the Sooner State this past weekend with a 4-3 win over Oklahoma and a 4-2 loss to Oklahoma State. Arkansas was picked to finished sixth in the SEC this season and is coming off its 15th NCAA tournament bid in 2017.