PADUCAH, Ken. - Southeast Missouri Tennis (8-7) cruises to a 5-2 win over Missouri State (1-11) Friday afternoon at the Rowton Paul Indoor Tennis Center.
The afternoon started off with doubles play with the Redhawks clinching the doubles point with victories on court two and three.
Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova dominated their opponents Sandra Lukacova and Raluca Puscas on court two. The No. 2 pair took control early and did not let up, never letting Missouri State's two's back in the match. Valeeva and Kozakova ended up winning 6-1.
SEMO No. 3 pair of Yontha Tadoum and Juliette Demunck faced off against Romy Pols and Lola Federski. Tadoum and Demunck were even with their opponents from the start, leading 3-2 early on. Then Tadoum and Demunck's strategy of both of them back at the baseline kicked in and they never let their opponents score another point winning 6-2.
On court one, Maja Bajorek and Mia Mayerova went unfinished against Tuana Gunal and Billur Gonlusen 5-4.
In singles play SEMO only fell in two of the matches.
Kristina Kozakova scored the second point for the Redhawks after only letting her opponent score once during the entire match. Kozakova flew past Lola Federski at No. 6 winning 6-0, 6-1.
Missouri State scored their first point of the match after Gunal defeated Valeeva 6-3, 6-2 on court one. Mayerova finishes right after Valeeva and wins in straight sets against Pols at the number five position. Mayerova won 6-4, 6-3 capturing SEMO's third point of the match.
Maja Bajorek clinched the match for the Redhawks with a straight set win on court three. Bajorek took on Lukacova and had some long rally's throughout the match. Bajorek kept it close for most of the match but pulled away at the end of each set winning 6-4, 6-3.
Missouri State got their second and last point of the contest on court 2. Tadoum fell to Gonlusen 7-5, 6-3. Demunck captured the Redhawks fifth point of the match on court four. Demunck fought back in set one and won a thriller tie break 7-6. In set two Demunck ended up winning 6-3 against Puscas.
Coach Brooks was proud of the team today saying, "Really proud of how we played doubles. We've been struggling here recently but we are really starting to play better. In singles, Missouri State played really well, especially the top 4. We had to fight hard to get wins. Overall, I'm happy to get the win. We've got a tough match against North Alabama on Sunday so have to get prepared for that. One Day Better!"
The Redhawks are back in Paducah on Sunday taking on North Alabama at 10 a.m., CT.
