CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's tennis (11-4, 3-0 OVC) will travel to the Music City this weekend for a pair of Ohio Valley Conference road matches at Tennessee State (0-7, 0-2 OVC) and at Belmont (9-6, 2-1 OVC) in Nashville, Tennessee.
The first match of the weekend against Tennessee State will be played on Friday at 2 p.m., CT. Saturday's match versus Belmont will be played at 1 p.m. at the Belmont Tennis Complex.
The regular-season OVC road finale with Belmont was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. but was moved to 1 p.m. for warmer temperatures in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Redhawks most recently secured their fifth win in a row and third win in conference play after they defeated UT Martin, 6-1, April 2 in Martin, Tennessee.
SEMO earned the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 slots.
Ksenia Shikanova and
Romana Tarajova defeated the Skyhawks' Sina Albersmeier and Jule Streif, 6-4, at the top position.
The Redhawks No. 2 pairing of
Daniela Hlacikova and
Teona Velkoska then beat Aziza Aubin and Amelia Campbell, 6-1.
The victories extended both SEMO doubles team's win streaks to five matches.
Hlacikova, a sophomore from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, and Velkoska, a senior from Prilep, Macedonia, pace the Redhawks in doubles this season with a 9-2 record. The duo was tabbed the OVC Doubles Team of the Week for the second time this season on Tuesday.
Tarajova and Shikanova improved to 6-1 in doubles in 2022 after the win.
In singles competition, the Redhawks won five out of the six matches on the afternoon.
Tarajova, the 2022 OVC Preseason Top Player, defeated Streif, 6-1, 6-2, at the top slot.
Tarajova, a senior from Dolný Kubín, Slovakia, was named the OVC Women's Player of the Week on Tuesday after registering her third-straight singles win.
At No. 2 singles, Hlacikova picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win over Albersmeier.
Shikanova then edged Campbell, 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) at the third slot.
With the win, Shikanova, a junior from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, improved to 10-5 in 2022 after her first OVC singles win of the campaign.
She has now registered double-digit singles wins in back-to-back seasons at SEMO.
Velkoska and Lai picked up the final two wins of the match.
Velkoska beat Mizuki Sakurai, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), at the final position for her third-straight victory.
Lai then defeated Aubin, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 5.
Lai, a junior from Taipei, Taiwan, leads the Redhawks in 2022 with a 10-3 singles record and is currently riding a five-match win-streak.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
TENNESSEE STATE
The Tigers come into Friday's match against SEMO having lost all seven of their matches so far in 2022. TSU has fell to Belmont (6-0) and Murray State (4-0) during conference play.
Most recently, TSU faced Southeastern Conference (SEC) member Vanderbilt on April 3, dropping the meeting 3-0.
BELMONT
The Bruins come into Saturday's match with the Redhawks touting a 9-6 overall record with a 2-1 conference mark in 2022.
Most recently, Belmont dropped their first conference loss to Austin Peay, 5-2, on April 2.
The Bruins received wins from Gina Feistel (1-6, 6-2, 6-4) at No. 1 and Anastasiya Zholdakova (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) at the fourth slot.
Feistel (8-6, 3-0 OVC) and Zholdakova (5-4, 3-0 OVC) are currently both on three-match win streaks. Peyton Lee leads the way for the Bruins with a 9-4 overall record thus far.
In doubles, the Bruins are led by the pairing of Somer Henry and Lee who are 9-3 (2-1 OVC).
LOOKING AHEAD
Following the Redhawks' tour of Nashville, SEMO wraps up the 2022 regular season April 15-16, against Murray State and Austin Peay at the Redhawks Tennis Complex. Both matches will begin at 1 p.m., CT in the Friday, Saturday matchup.
