EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The No. 2-seeded Southeast Missouri women's tennis team (14-6) swept #3 Belmont (13-8), 4-0, Saturday afternoon at the Wesselman Tennis Complex to advance to Sunday's 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Championship Final.
SEMO secured its second-straight OVC Championship Final berth with three singles wins after capturing the doubles point against No. 3 seed Belmont Saturday.
The Redhawks will face top seeded and 2022 OVC Regular-Season Champion, Austin Peay (11-6), Sunday at 10 a.m., CT in a matchup of the top two teams in the conference.
The Governors overcame #5 Murray State, 4-3, in the Semifinals Saturday.
Myroslava Zelenchuk,
Vivian Lai, and
Teona Velkoska all registered doubles and singles wins during the Semifinal against Belmont.
Zelenchuk and Lai beat Taylor Trondson and Anastasiya Zholdakova, 6-2, at the third doubles position. With the win, Zelenchuk and Lai improved to 7-3 in 2022.
The 2022 All-OVC Doubles Team of
Daniela Hlacikova and Velkoska then defeated Somer Henry and Peyton Lee, 6-3, at the middle slot to provide the Redhawks an early 1-0 advantage heading to singles.
The tandem of Hlacikova and Velkoska improved to a team-best 13-3 in 2022 after the victory.
The Redhawks then completed the sweep of the Bruins with singles victories at the fourth, sixth and fifth slots.
Zelenchuk, a freshman from Lviv, Ukraine, won her fifth-straight singles match at the fourth flight, dropping Abi Solomon, 6-3, 6-1.
Zelenchuk improved to 12-6 this season in singles matches and is one of four Redhawks with the win (12) total in 2022.
Velkoska, a senior from Prilep, Macedonia, then defeated Lauren Carelli, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6 to move to a career best 12-6 this campaign.
Lai then fought past Peyton Lee, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, at the fifth slot to finalize the victory for SEMO.
Lai, a junior from Taipei, Taiwan, leads the Redhawks this season with a 14-4 record.
SEMO's top three singles positions all went unfinished in the third set.
Romana Tarajova, a 2022 All-OVC First Teamer, won the second set (6-1) after dropping the opening set, 6-1, to 2022 OVC Freshman of the Year and Co-Player of the Year Gina Feistel, at the top flight.
Hlacikova, a 2022 All-OVC First Team performer, and Henry were in the third set at No. 2. Hlacikova took the opening set, 6-3, before Henry evened the match at 1-1 with a 6-4 second set.
Ksenia Shikanova and Zholdakova were tied at 1-1 (4-6, 6-3) in the third set at the third spot.
SEMO will take on #1 Austin Peay (11-6) on Sunday in the 2022 OVC Championship Tennis Championship Final. The match is set for 10 a.m., CT at the Wesselman Tennis Center.
