CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (0-2) continues its 2020 season with a short trip to O'Fallon, Illinois, to face in-state rival Saint Louis (1-0) Wednesday at the St Clair Tennis Club. First serve is scheduled for noon.
Southeast heads north to take on the Billikens after opening the campaign with a doubleheader road test Sunday at the Atlantic Coast Conference's Louisville (5-0). The Redhawks fell to the host Cardinals, 7-0 and 4-0, in the doubleheader held at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Romana Tarajova, the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-OVC honoree, teamed up with
Kseniya Zonova for a tight battle at the top doubles spot in the first match Sunday. The duo who were both featured on the 2020 OVC Preseason Top 10 Players List were overcome by Rhea Verma and Andrea Di Palma, 7-6 (12-10).
At the no. 2 singles position, Zonova captured the second set to force a decisive final set. Trailing a set, the senior from Kharkiv, Ukraine, forced a third set on Verma with a 6-3 second set win. Verma then captured the match with a 10-5 third set.
Manuela Barriga also battled to a 7-5, 6-2, loss against Diana Wong at the no. 6 singles position in the morning session.
Lera Valeeva and
Vivian Lai both made their Redhawks dual debuts on Sunday. Valeeva played doubles at the third position with Barriga while also competing in the third singles slot. Lai was inserted at no. 2 doubles in the lineup with
Teona Velkoska and also played fourth singles.
SEMO last faced off against SLU on Feb. 1, 2019, a 4-3 decision in favor of the Billikens.
Tarajova and Velkoska each captured singles victories at the dual.
The Redhawks started the dual with two doubles wins for the point. Tarajova and Barriga earned their first career dual doubles win after they defeated Alana Bourgeois and Mika Misgav, 6-1, at the no. 3 position. Zonova and
Sneha Sinha then captured the doubles point for SEMO with a decisive 7-6 win over Cassie McKenzie and Ally McKenzie at the top spot.
Southeast recorded its first dual meet victory against Saint Louis in over 17 years on Feb. 21, 2018. The Redhawks bested their in-state rival with four singles wins from
Alessandra Maya Thompson,
Maja Lundell,
Oleksandra Doroshenko, and
Kelly Sicha in the 2018 matchup.
SLU opened its 2020 season this past Friday with a 4-3 victory over Chicago State. Down 0-1 after doubles, the Billikens utilized singles wins from Mika Misgav, Mariluz Rojo, Nawal Cheema and Adriana Gonzalez to secure the dual victory.
Cheema downed Isidora Hrnjak 7-5, 6-0 at no. 6 singles to knot the match 3-3 before Gonzalez churned out a 7-6, 7-6 triumph over Katarina Dukic in the deciding no. 5 contest.
Head coach Justin Stuckey is in his first year at Saint Louis.
After Wednesday's dual, the Redhawks head to Memphis, Tennessee, for a pair of contests on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9. SEMO faces Lipscomb on Feb. 8 at 2:30 p.m. before competing against Memphis of the American Athletic Conference Feb. 9 at 9 a.m.
