Match 3
Southeast Missouri (0-2) vs Western Kentucky (1-0)
Date: Friday, January 24, 2024
Time: 6 p.m., CT
Location: Bowling Green, Ky.
Series: WKU leads 5-2
Match 4
Southeast Missouri (0-2) vs Central Arkansas (1-1)
Date: Sunday, January 26, 2024
Time: 10 a.m., CT
Location: Conway, Ark.
Series: UCA leads 4-5
Redhawks Hit the Road to Face Western Kentucky and Central Arkansas
Southeast Missouri is on the road traveling to Bowling Green, Kentucky to face the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Friday. Then SEMO will trek to Conway, Ark. to verse Central Arkansas on Sunday. Friday's match with the Hilltoppers will take place at 6 p.m., CT, at the Warren County Tennis Facility. Sunday's match against the Bears is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., CT.
About Western Kentucky
WKU comes into this meeting with SEMO coming off of a season opening 6-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Hilltoppers No.1 doubles pair of Sofia Blanco and Rachel Hermanova crushed to a 6-2 victory. Hermanova and Blanco both won their singles matches in straight sets at the No. 1 and 2 positions. Last spring, Blanco, the senior from Caracas, Venezuela, was named to the All-Conference USA Singles Second team after posting a 18-2 record last spring. Last season, Western Kentucky had an overall record of 14-11 and went 1-1 in conference play. The Hilltoppers fell in the first round of their conference tournament last year. This year's WKU roster is composed of one graduate, three seniors, two juniors, and two sophomores.
About Central Arkansas
Central Arkansas split their matches opening weekend, winning 4-3 against Oral Roberts and falling 7-0 to Tulsa. Against Oral Roberts, junior Vichitraporn Vimuktananda led the charge with a 6-4, 7-5 victory. Ting-An Chen dominated her opponent, winning 6-0, 6-0. Last spring the Bears went 11-13 on the year, had a conference record of 3-7, and failed to make the ASUN conference tournament. UCA returns six athletes from last year's roster, four juniors and two sophomores. To add more depth to this year's team, the Bears added one freshman.
Series History
This will be the eighth meeting between the Redhawks and the Hilltoppers. The previous meeting between these two teams, last season on February 2, at Western Kentucky, ended in a 5-2 win for WKU. Daniela Hlacikova and Trinity Calinescu were the only Redhawks to score points with their singles victories. SEMO last defeated the Hilltoppers in 2014 at a neutral site winning 5-2.
The Bears currently own a slight advantage, leading the series 4-5. SEMO has shut out Central Arkansas two years in a row, last season 5-0, and 7-0 in 2023. The Redhawks have dominated the series as of late winning the match for three straight seasons. UCA last beat SEMO 4-3 at a neutral site in 2021.
Opening Weekend Recap
Southeast Missouri dropped its first two matches of the season, falling 4-0 against Texas State on Saturday Jan. 18 at 9 a.m, and #4 Oklahoma State, 4-0 at 1 p.m. on the same day. Both matches were played at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma. SEMO's No. 1 doubles pair, Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova were the only Redhawks to come away with a victory.
A New Era Begins
Steve Brooks will be taking over the reigns as the new Head Coach for the SEMO tennis program. Coach Brooks was hired back in August of 2024 and this will be his first spring season as the Head Coach of the Redhawks. Coach Brooks becomes the 10th head coach in program history and comes to SEMO with more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 15 at the NCAA Division I level.
Fall Recap
The Redhawks enjoyed a successful fall season. SEMO competed in four tournaments over the fall, the OVC Fall tournament, Tennessee Fall Intercollegiate Tournament, the ITA Regional, and the UCA Fall Invitational. In singles action the Redhawks posted a 30-22 overall record with Juliette Demunck (9-2) and Mia Mayerová (8-3) leading the way for SEMO. In doubles play, SEMO went 12-8 with the partnership of Maja Bajorek and Mayerová earning the most wins with six.
Redhawks Picked second in 2025 OVC Preseason Poll
The Redhawks were picked second in this year's preseason poll with 28 points trailing only SIUE who was picked first with 36 total points and six of the seven first place votes. Western Illinois after finishing in last place a season ago was picked third with the other first place vote and 26 total points. Southern Indiana (22), Lindenwood (15), Eastern Illinois (12), and Tennessee State (10) completed the poll.
The University of Bryant will be joining the OVC tennis schools but will not play a regular season conference schedule. The Bulldogs will be competing at the OVC conference tournament as part of the eight team field.
Valeeva, the graduate, was SEMO's singles player to watch for the spring. Valeeva joins Kozakova, a grad transfer from Blue Mountain Christian as the doubles players to watch this spring.
2023 Review
For the second straight year the Redhawks won the OVC regular season title. SEMO had an overall record of 12-7 last season and finished undefeated in conference play with six wins and zero losses. During league play the Redhawks had three shutout victories and the other three wins SEMO only gave up one point in each match. Throughout the season the Redhawks dominated the OVC weekly awards.
Daniela Hlacikova earned her second straight OVC player of the year award. Hlacikova became the first player in program history to be voted OVC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Juliette Talieu and Trinity Calinescu joined Hlacikova on the All-OVC First-Team selections while Vivian Lai earned Second-Team Honors. Hlacikova and Talieu also got named to the All-OVC Doubles Team. Previous Head Coach Mary Beth Gunn picked up her second OVC Coach of the year award.
At the OVC tournament, the Redhawks crushed #5 seeded Tennessee State 4-0 in the semifinals. In the tournament finals SEMO fell 4-1 against #2 seeded SIU Edwardsville.
