Match 22
vs Eastern Illinois (5-14, 2-1 OVC)
Date: Sunday, April 6, 2025
Time: 1:30 p.m., CT
Location: Edwardsville, Ill.
Series: EIU leads the series 20-8
Live Stats: semoredhawks.com

Redhawks Head back to Edwardsville to Take on Eastern Illinois
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 Eastern Illinois
The Panthers come into this matchup coming off of a 4-2 win over Lindenwood. Eastern Illinois has beat Tennessee State and their lone conference loss is against Southern Indiana 5-2. EIU was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll before the season started. This year's EIU squad is led by Junior Aleyla Wooten who was named to the All-OVC Second team last season. Wooten has five wins at the number one position this year, team high eight total wins in doubles, and she is 4-1 at No.1 in doubles when she plays with Chaleigh Fay. The Panthers are led by first year coach Ksenija Tihomirova.

Series History
The Panthers currently have a strong 20-8 lead in the series against the Redhawks. Southeast Missouri though has not lost to EIU since 2018. Out of the past five meetings, the Redhawks have not let the Panthers score more than two points. The most previous meeting came last year at Eastern Illinois where SEMO defeated EIU 5-0.

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 4-0 in conference play and are in sole possession of first place in the OVC conference standings. SEMO has wins over Tennessee State, Western Illinois, Southern Indiana, and SIU Edwardsville this season. Behind the Redhawks in the standings is Western Illinois and Eastern Illinois with a 2-1 conference record. SIUE is slotted in fourth with a 2-2 record. 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 31-6.

Redhawk Leaders
Juliette Demunck leads the Redhawks in singles this season. Demunck has a team best 13 singles victories with four wins coming at No. 3 and nine wins at No. 4. Kristina Kozakova has ten 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 eleven.

Undefeated
Doubles pair's of Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova and Yontha Tadoum and Juliette Demunck remain undefeated in conference play at 4-0. Valeeva and Kozakova also extended their doubles winning streak to six matches. Demunck and Kozakova remain undefeated in singles conference play at 4-0.

SIUE Match Recap
The Redhawks went down to the wire with their conference rival SIUE yesterday. The match was tied 3-3 with the both teams waiting for the outcome on court six to see would would win the match. Kristina Kozakova didn't miss a beat and clinched the match for the Redhawks. SEMO won the match 4-3.

The doubles point came down to the number two pairs to decide who would capture the doubles point. SIUE's Amelia Gorman and Stefaniya Anikina took the first doubles match winning 6-4 on court 1. Juliette Demunck and Yontha Tadoum quickly fired right back, tying the doubles match 1-1 and didn't have any trouble winning 6-3 against Paige Duncan and Chloe Koons. Lera Valeeva had a battle at the No. 2 position against Margaux Guibal Britt and Payton Tomichek.The SEMO pair won  7-5 in comeback victory. 

In singles action, court four and five finished at the exact same time. Demunck rolled past Duncan at No. 4 beating her in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Anikina captured the Cougars first point defeating Mia Mayerová in straight sets at No. 5, 6-4, 6-1. Tomichek from SIUE, tied the match on court three with her win over Bajorek 7-5, 6-3.Two three set thrillers took place at the top of the lineup. Valeeva took on Gorman on court one and barely lost 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Tadoum versed Guibal Britt and won 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. 

Looking Ahead
The Redhawks will end their regular season on the road as they travel to St. Charles, Mo. to face the Lindenwood Lions on Thursday, April 10. The match is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m., CT.