CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (2-5) heads to Peoria, Illinois, after a short layoff for a dual match against Bradley (5-4) Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The match will be held at The Clubs at River City.
The Redhawks were originally scheduled to also take on Western Illinois (0-8) Saturday but the Leathernecks cancelled due to injuries. The match with WIU is currently postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date.
Southeast most recently dropped a doubleheader at Missouri on Feb. 17.
At the top doubles spot in the morning and afternoon sessions,
Romana Tarajova and
Kseniya Zonova both fought tough against #58-ranked Serena Nash and Gabrielle Goldin. Tarajova and Zonova led Nash and Goldin in the 10 a.m. unfinished match, 5-4, before falling 5-7 to the duo in the 1:30 p.m. contest.
Zonova and
Vivian Lai also captured first set wins in their morning singles matches at the first and third positions, respectively.
Zonova opened her match with Nash, 1-0, after a 6-2 first set. Nash then responded with 6-1, 6-2 second and third sets.
Lai overcame Vivien Abraham, 6-4, before Abraham knotted the unfinished match at 1-1 with a 6-0 second frame. Abraham was leading the third set, 5-3, before the match was concluded.
The Tigers picked up singles wins at the fourth and second slots in addition to the top position. Marta Oliveira overcame
Manuela Barriga, 6-1, 7-5, before Ellen Wright defeated Tarajova, 6-3, 6-2.
In the afternoon match, Missouri extended its lead to 3-0 when the competition switched to singles with victories by default at the fifth and sixth lineup spots.
Oliveira concluded the sweep with a 6-2, 6-0 win over
Maja Lundell at no. 3 singles. Lundell competed at the third position for the first time in her career on Feb. 17.
Barriga was inserted at the second position and
Grace Powderly was placed at the fourth lineup slot on Feb. 17 for the first time while competing for SEMO.
The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Feb. 15 but was moved because of sickness on the Redhawks team.
Zonova (2-4), Barriga (2-3) and Lai (2-2) have all amassed two singles wins thus far in 2020. The doubles team of Zonova and Tarajova paces the Redhawks with a 2-4 mark.
Bradley (5-4) earned a pair of wins this past Saturday at The Clubs at River City. The Braves beat Western Illinois (0-8) by default, 1-0, before overcoming Northern Illinois (8-5), 4-3.
With the team score knotted at 3-3, Natalia Barbery pulled out a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 win against NIU's Fernanda Naves at no. 3 singles to deliver the deciding point in Bradley's third consecutive victory against the Huskies.
After dropping all three doubles matches to fall behind, 1-0, Bozana Lojpur started the rally when her opponent in their no. 2 singles match retired. Lojpur was leading 6-0, 4-1 when Jovana Peric retired. The Braves took control, 3-2, when Sandra Maletin (no. 1) and Nikki Perlwitz (no. 5) followed with straight-set victories of their own. Maletin improved to 7-0 on the season at no. 1 singles, while Perlwitz moved to 5-2.
Southeast continues its non-conference schedule next weekend in Springfield, Missouri. The Redhawks compete against Missouri State Friday, March 6 before concluding the weekend with a meeting with Missouri - Kansas City on Saturday, March 7.
