Southeast Missouri State University
Lindenwood University
Tennis Concludes Conference Play at Lindenwood Thursday
4/9/2025 11:05:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Match 23
vs Lindenwood (4-7, 1-3 OVC)
Date: Thursday, April 10, 2025
Time: 11:30 a.m., CT
Location: St. Charles, Mo.
Series: SEMO leads the series 2-0
Redhawks Concludes Conference Play at Lindenwood Thursday
Southeast Missouri Tennis ends conference play and the regular season on the road in St. Charles, Mo. facing the Lindenwood Lions at the Lindenwood tennis courts. The match is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., CT.
About Lindenwood
The Lions come into this matchup coming off of a 2-5 loss against Western Illinois. This season Lindenwood has wins against IU Indy, Bradley, Missouri State and their lone conference win came against Tennessee State. Fabiana Labrador leads Lindenwood in singles play this year. She has a team high four singles wins all coming at the No. 1 position. Daniela Rosenberger and Yana Gaskell have a 5-1 doubles record at the No. 3, which is a team best. Coming into the season the Lions were picked in the Preseason poll. The Lions squad features four underclassmen and three upperclassmen with two seniors. Lindenwood is coached by Cole Stevenson who is in his sixth season as the Lions head coach.
Series History
This will only be the three matchup between the Redhawks and the Lions. Last season Southeast Missouri swept Lindenwood 7-0 at the John C. Bierk Redhawks Tennis Complex. The first meeting between these two teams came into 2023 that saw SEMO win 7-0 again but it was at the Lindenwood Tennis courts.
A Share of the Title
Southeast Missouri earned a share of the regular season OVC title with their 4-3 win over Eastern Illinois this past Sunday. With that win the Redhawks also clinched the number one seed in the OVC tournament. SEMO will clinch the regular season OVC title outright with a win against Lindenwood or a Western Illinois loss.
OVC Weekly Awards
Southeast Missouri has garnered OVC weekly awards so far this season. Maja Bajorek and Mia Mayerova has two OVC Doubles Team of the Week awards while Lera Valeeva has one OVC Player of the Week Award. Bajorek and Mayerova have ten wins this season and Valeeva has seven.
Conference Play
The Redhawks are 5-0 in conference play and are in sole possession of first place in the OVC conference standings. Lindenwood is the last team in the conference that SEMO has yet to face. Behind the Redhawks in the standings is Western Illinois at 4-1, followed by SIUE at 3-2. Eastern Illinois (2-3) and Lindenwood (1-3) round out the top-five for the conference standings. 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 32-6.
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 and Maja Bajorek have reached double-digit wins this year. Bajorek has ten wins while Kozakova has 11 wins on the season but has only lost three matches this year between No. 5, 6, and 4.
The graduate pair of Lera Valeeva and Kristina Kozakova has the most doubles wins so far this year with eleven.
Undefeated
Doubles pair of Yontha Tadoum and Juliette Demunck remain undefeated in conference play at 5-0. They pair is also on a seven match winning streak after starting the season with a loss. Kozakova remains the only Redhawk that is undefeated in singles conference play at 5-0. Kozakova is 8-1 in her last nine matches.
EIU Match Recap
The Redhawks went down to the wire again this past Sunday with a 4-3 win over Eastern Illinois. With the win the Redhawks clinched a share of the regular season OVC title.
Doubles play started with ??Juliette Demunck and Yontha completely tearing apart Ornella Lomenzo and Pilipovic-Kljaj on court 3. Demunck and Tadoum won 6-0. EIU tied the doubles play when they won 6-3 at the No. 1 position. The doubles point would then be decided on court two, Maja Bajorek and Mia Mayerova took on Michelle Kostadinova and Renovales-Salazar and the Redhawks pair clinched the doubles point winning 7-5.
In singles action, Lera Valeeva made quick work of Wooten on court 1 winning 6-3, 6-1 to capture SEMO's second point. EIU then captured their first point of the match when Lomenzo beat Tadoum 6-3, 6-2. Mayerova went into a first set tie break on court five against Salazar and won 7-6. Mayerova didn't show any mercy in set two and quickly won 6-0. Kozakova went to a third set against Kostadinova at No. 4. Kozakova easily won the first 6-2, fell in the second 6-4, then won 6-2 in the third which would clinch the match for the Redhawks. Demunck lost a three set thriller against Fay 6-2, 2-6, 6-7.
Looking Ahead
The Redhawks will be back in St. Louis next week for the OVC Championship tournament. The OVC Tournament will take place from April 17-19 at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center.
