EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A year after Southeast Missouri women's tennis captured its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Regular-Season Championship, the No. 2-seeded Redhawks (15-6) secured their first-ever OVC Tennis Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon at the Wesselman Tennis Complex with a 4-1 decision over top seeded Austin Peay (11-7).
 
With the 2022 OVC Tennis Tournament title, Southeast Missouri earns the league's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. It will be SEMO's first-ever appearance. 
 
The Redhawks will find out their first-round opponent during the NCAA Selection Show Monday at 5:30 p.m., CT. The First Round will be contested May 6-7. The 2022 NCAA Championship will be held at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois, from May 19-28.
 
SEMO will host a NCAA Selection Show Watch Party Monday at Wings Etc., 3047 William Street, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 
 
The Redhawks dropped the doubles point to Austin Peay before reeling off four consecutive singles match wins to earn the 2022 OVC Tennis Tournament crown. 
 
The two teams previously met in the 2021 OVC Championship Finals with the Governors edging SEMO, 4-3, for their second-straight Tournament title. 
 
"I am so proud of how our team played today," head coach Mary Beth Gunn said of Sunday's OVC Championship Final. "It's not easy to win four singles matches in straight sets in a conference Championship but we were so focused and mentally tough on the court. We are excited to be a part of SEMO Tennis history. Losing in the finals last year was a big motivator for us this year. No one wanted to feel that heartbreak again and they came out strong in singles, always believing in ourselves."
 
Trailing 1-0, SEMO evened the dual with a win at the fifth slot. Vivian Lai, a junior from Taipei, Taiwan, beat Aleks Topalovic, 6-2, 6-4, for her third-straight win. 
 
Lai leads the Redhawks this season with a 15-4 singles mark.
 
Ksenia Shikanova, who hails from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, then pushed the Redhawks advantage to 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-0, victory over Martina Paladini-Jennings at No. 3 singles. 
 
Shikanova has registered a career-best singles record of 13-7 in 2022. 
 
Myroslava Zelenchuk then overcame Danielle Morris, a 2022 All-OVC Second Team Selection, 6-3, 6-3, at the fourth slot for her sixth-straight win. 
 
Zelenchuk, a freshman from Lviv, Ukraine, improved to 13-6 in singles this season. 
 
Teona Velkoska then secured the Championship for SEMO at the final singles position. Velkoska, a senior from Prilep, Macedonia, fought past Yu-Hua Cheng, 6-3, 6-3, to increase her career-best campaign to 13-6 in 2022. 
 
Zelenchuk, Velkoska, and Lai all went a perfect 2-0 in singles this weekend at the 2022 OVC Tennis Championship. 
 
Zelenchuk and Lai opened Sunday's Championship Final with a 6-3 third doubles win over Topalovic and Cheng. 
 
The duo of Zelenchuk and Lai improved to 8-3 in doubles this season and went 2-0 at the 2022 OVC Tennis Championship this weekend. 
 
The Governors then had doubles victories at the top two slots to claim the doubles point. 
 
Morris and Jana Leder beat Daniela Hlacikova and Velkoska, 6-2, at No. 2 before Denise Torrealba and Honoka Nakanishi defeated Romana Tarajova and Shikanova, 6-3, at the top position. 

Tarajova was leading her first singles match against Torrealba, 6-4, 4-3, before it went unfinished. Hlacikova evened her second singles match (2-6, 6-2) against Leder at 1-1 before it also went unfinished. 
 
With the win Sunday, SEMO matched its win total of 15 from 2021 which was the team's highest win total in 28 years as the 1993 SEMO team finished the season with a mark of 17-6 (6-1 OVC).
 
The Redhawks will next compete in the 2022 NCAA Tournament as the OVC's automatic qualifier. SEMO will find out their first-round opponent during the NCAA Selection Show Monday at 5:30 p.m., CT. The First Round will be contested May 6-7. The 2022 NCAA Championship will be held at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois, from May 19-28.
 
SEMO will host a NCAA Selection Show Watch Party Monday at Wings Etc., 3047 William Street, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.