CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (11-9, 4-4 OVC) will take on No. 4 seed Belmont (12-8, 5-3 OVC) Friday in the First Round of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Tennis Championship at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
Southeast earned the fifth seed for its 12th OVC Tournament appearance after securing a pair of 6-1 victories over SIUE and Eastern Illinois in the final weekend of the regular season. 
 
The Redhawks captured the doubles point in both matches and have grabbed the early lead in 13 duals (five in OVC play) this season.
 
Isabella Krupa and Teona Velkoska rank fifth in Southeast's program history for best single season doubles record (13-6) and tie for sixth all-time for most doubles wins (13) in a single season. The pair is 11-4 at no. 2 doubles in 2019. 
 
The doubles teams of Manuela Barriga/Romana Tarajova and Kseniya Zonova/Sneha Sinha have each tallied wins in their past three matches. 
 
Barriga and Tarajova are 9-4 at the third position with a 4-1 OVC mark. Zonova and Sinha have chipped in a 9-5 record (4-2 OVC) with a 3-0 mark at no. 2 doubles.
 
Zonova, Velkoska, Sinha and Barriga each concluded the regular season with two singles victories this past weekend. 
 
Zonova, a Second-Team All-OVC performer in 2018, leads the Redhawks this campaign with a 13-6 mark (6-2 in OVC) at the second singles position. 
 
Romana Tarajova has notched a 12-5 record (5-3 OVC) at the top singles slot. Velkoska boasts a 6-2 mark in conference play (10-8 overall), playing primarily at no. 4 singles and enters the Championship on a five-match win streak. 
 
Sinha has split time at the fifth (4-2) and sixth singles (7-4) spots to post an 11-6 dual record (5-3 OVC).
 
Barriga possesses a perfect 3-0 record in league matches and has triumphed in each of her last five duals (5-2 at no. 6). 
 
Southeast was edged by Belmont, 4-3, in the regular-season meeting on March 30 at the McCracken County High School Tennis Indoor Facility in Paducah, Kentucky and will look to avenge that loss on Friday in the Music City.
 
The Redhawks last qualified for the Championship in 2017 which ended a decade-long postseason drought. 2017 OVC Freshman of the Year and Second-Team All-OVC honoree Oleksandra Doroshenko and Zonova each had singles victories as Southeast fell to No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois, 4-2.
 
The winner of Friday's First Round match between Southeast and Belmont will face top seed Austin Peay in the semifinals Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Centennial Sportsplex. The 2019 OVC Women's Tennis Championship Match will be Sunday at 10 a.m.