CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (10-4, 2-0 OVC) will hit the road this weekend to take on UT Martin (2-12, 1-1 OVC) Saturday at the Skyhawk Tennis Complex in Martin, Tennessee. The dual will begin at 1 p.m., CT.
SEMO most recently defeated SIUE in a heavily contested Ohio Valley Conference matchup at the Redhawks Tennis Complex on Tuesday afternoon. Prior to Tuesday's midweek, SEMO downed Eastern Illinois, 6-1, on March 25 to commence league play.
SEMO overcame SIUE (13-2, 1-1 OVC), 4-3, Tuesday to improve to 2-0 in OVC play in 2022. For the Cougars, it was only their second loss of the campaign.
The Redhawks opened the dual match with doubles victories at the third and second slots.
The No. 3 doubles pairing of
Myroslava Zelenchuk and
Vivian Lai took the first doubles win (6-1) followed by teammates
Daniela Hlacikova and
Teona Velkoska, who won their match 6-2 to claim the doubles point.
Both of SEMO's doubles teams extended their respective win streaks to four matches. Hlacikova and Velkoska improved to 8-2 in 2022 while Lai and Zelenchuk are now 5-1 as a duo.
As the match switched to singles, it was the 2022 OVC Preseason Top Player,
Romana Tarajova, getting the first win of the day for the Redhawks. Tarajova defeated Jordan Schifano, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1.
Wins at No. 6 and No. 5 singles from
Teona Velkoska (2-6, 6-1, 6-3) and
Vivian Lai (2-6, 7-5, 7-5), respectively, secured the match at the back end for the Redhawks who have now reached 10 wins for the third-straight season (excluding the 2020 campaign that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
UT Martin enters the match against SEMO with a 2-12 overall record and a 1-1 mark in league play.
The Skyhawks fell to SIUE (5-2) to open OVC competition on March 25 before beating Eastern Illinois, 5-2, most recently on March 26.
The Skyhawks lone non-conference win was a 4-0 victory over Missouri State on March 4.
The Skyhawks are led by Aziza Aubin and Amelia Campbell who were just tabbed the OVC Doubles Team of the Week, the league announced on Tuesday.
Aubin was also selected as the OVC Player of the Week for the second time this season.
The doubles pairing of Aubin and Campbell are currently 2-0 in league play with wins over SIUE (7-6) and EIU (6-0).
In singles, the Skyhawks are led by Aubin and Mizuki Sakurai who are both undefeated (2-0) in conference play thus far. Aubin is 8-4 overall in 2022.
Redhawks head coach
Mary Beth Gunn was an All-OVC tennis player at UT Martin. She also helped lead UTM to the OVC Regular-Season Championship in 2011 as an assistant coach.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following this weekend's dual at UT Martin, SEMO heads to the Music City April 8-9 to face Tennessee State and Belmont. The Redhawks take on TSU Friday, April 8 at 2 p.m., CT before concluding the trip to Nashville, Tennessee, with a meeting against Belmont the following day (Saturday, April 9) at 11 a.m.
