CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's tennis (12-4, 5-0 OVC) wraps up its 2021 regular season with a trip to Illinois this weekend to face SIUE (9-6, 2-3 OVC) and Eastern Illinois (4-11, 1-4 OVC). SEMO will face the Cougars Friday at 1 p.m., CT at the SIUE Tennis Courts in Edwardsville, Illinois, before concluding its Ohio Valley Conference regular-season slate Saturday against EIU in Charleston, Illinois, at 11 a.m. at the Darling Courts.
SEMO enters the weekend riding an eight match win straight and a perfect 5-0 mark in conference play. The Redhawks captured the 2021 OVC Regular Season Championship with a 7-0 sweep of Jacksonville State on April 10 and can secure the outright title with one more win. For SEMO, the 2021 OVC Championship is its first in program history.
Against Jacksonville State, SEMO captured the doubles point for the eighth straight-match to open their dual before rallying off six straight singles victories.
Romana Tarajova and
Kseniya Zonova eased past Carolina Bulatovic and Malin Buechner, 6-1, at the top slot. The duo improved to 8-2 this season and extended their win streak to six matches, competing exclusively at no. 1.
Daniela Hlacikova and
Teona Velkoska then beat Martina Zarza and Dariana Prato, 6-4, at no. 3 doubles to secure the doubles point. Hlacikova and Velkoska are 6-1 in 2021 as a doubles team.
When the competition switched to singles, SEMO earned victories in the fourth, fifth, first, sixth, third and second lineup spots.
Ksenia Shikanova beat Prato 6-2, 6-3, at the fourth singles slot. Shikanova has won her last four singles matches and is 9-4 this campaign.
Vivian Lai then earned her eighth straight win, defeating Alessia Locati, 6-2, 6-3, at no. 5 singles. Lai is second on the Redhawks with a mark of 12-3.
Tarajova downed Bulatovic, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, for her 10th win of the season (10-4).
Lera Valeeva fought past Balsen Kaya, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, at the sixth singles slot. Valeeva is 6-3 in 2021 including 5-3 at the no. 6 slot.
Zonova beat Buechner, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, at the third position before Hlacikova overcame Harriet Hamilton, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, at no. 2 to secure the sweep.
Hlacikova is now 13-1 in her inaugural collegiate season after her seventh-straight win.
SIUE is 9-6 (2-3 OVC) in 2021 and most recently fell at Murray State on April 9 (4-3) and at Austin Peay (5-2) on April 11. Jordan Schifano paces the Cougars with an 11-2 mark in singles (2-2 OVC). Nicole Gomez has fashioned a 10-1 record and is a perfect 4-0 in league play, playing at no. 5. Jill Lambrechts and Maria Thibault lead the SIUE doubles teams with a 6-1 record (3-1 OVC)
Eastern Illinois has registered a 4-11 (1-4 OVC) mark this season and most recently edged Murray State, 4-3, on April 10 in Murray, Kentucky, for the Panthers first conference win in 2021. Rachel Papavasilopoulos paces EIU with a 9-2 record (2-1 OVC), playing exclusively at the top singles slot.
SEMO will next compete in the 2021 OVC Championship April 24-25 in Evansville, Indiana, at the Wesselman Tennis Center. The tournament bracket will be released Sunday and will feature the top-four teams in the conference standings.
