Match 21
vs SIU Edwardsville (12-4, 2-1 OVC)
Date: Friday, April 4, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m., CT
Location: Edwardsville, Ill.
Series: SEMO leads the series 10-9
Live Stats: siuecougars.com

Redhawks Face SIU in OVC Clash Friday
Southeast Missouri Tennis will be traveling to Edwardsville, Illinois to face the SIU Edwardsville Cougars on April 4. The match will be played inside at the Edwardsville Y Meyer Center with the scheduled start time at 2 p.m., CT.

About SIUE
The reigning OVC tournament champions are  2-1 in conference play with wins over Lindenwood and Southern Indiana but they fell last week to Western Illinois 4-3. SIUE was picked first in the preseason poll this year. Junior Amelia Gorman leads the way for the Cougars with a 12-3 record at the No. 1 position. Gorman was named to the All-OVCsecond team last year as well as the All-OVC doubles team with her partner Margaux Guibal Britt. Guibal Britt was on the All-OVC first team last season and is currently undefeated with her partner Stefaniya Anikina at the No. 2 doubles position at 7-0. Anikina is also undefeated in singles (10-0) with wins at No. 4, 5, and 6 positions. As a team, the Cougars are 51-21 in singles this season (10-4 OVC) and 29-9 in doubles (6-1 OVC). SIUE is coached by 2023 OVC coach of the year Adam Albertsen.

Series History
The Redhawks and Cougars have been battling back and forth these past few years with SEMO currently leading the series 10-9. The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship the past two seasons has featured the Redhawks vs the Cougars. In 2023 the Redhawks claimed the tournament title defeating SIUE 4-2 to advance to the NCAA tournament but most recently SIUE beat SEMO in the 2024 OVC Championship winning 4-1.The regular season matches have belonged to the Redhawks though. The Cougars have not beat Southeast Missouri in a regular season match since 2017.

OVC Weekly Awards
Maja Bajorek and Mia Mayerova were voted the Co-OVC Doubles Team of the Week this week. It is the doubles pair's second time winning the award this year. Bajorek and Mayerova now have nine doubles wins on the year with five wins at No. 2 and four wins at No. 1. This is the third OVC weekly award for the Redhawks this year. SEMO now has two OVC Doubles awards and one OVC Player of the Week award.

Conference Play
The Redhawks are 3-0 in conference play this year with wins over Tennessee State, Western Illinois, and Southern Indiana. Southeast Missouri has gone undefeated in conference play the last two seasons and since 2019 they have gone undefeated three times. Since the 2019 season SEMO has a OVC record of 30-6.

Redhawk Leaders
Juliette Demunck leads the Redhawks in singles this season. Demunck has a team best 12 singles victories with four wins coming at No. 3 and eight wins at No. 4. Kristina Kozakova has nine wins on the season but has only lost three matches this year between No. 5 and 6. 

The graduate pair of Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova with the most doubles wins so far this year with ten.

Undefeated
Doubles pair's of Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova and Yontha Tadoum and Juliette Demunck remain undefeated in conference play at 3-0. Valeeva and Kozakova also extended their doubles winning streak to five matches. Demunck, Kozakova, and Valeeva all remain undefeated in singles conference play at 3-0

Weekend Ten Recap
The Redhawks continued conference play last weekend sweeping Southern Indiana 7-0 to stay undefeated in conference play.  

In doubles action, SEMO's No. 1 pair of Bajorek and Mia Mayerova cruised to a 6-0 victory over Sofia Davidoff and Antonia Ferrarini. To clinch the doubles point Tadoum and Demunck easily beat Abby Myers and Madison Windham 6-2 on court three. To finish off doubles play, Valeeva and Kozakova defeated Libby Banet and Rylie Wilkison 6-4 at position two. In singles play, the Redhawks won all matches in straight sets. 

Looking Ahead
The Redhawks home game against Eastern Illinois on Sunday has moved to Edwardsville, Illinois. So SEMO will verse the Panthers on Sunday at the Edwardsville YMCA Meyer Center with the match scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., CT.