Murray State University Women's tennis team will open its 42nd season of play on Friday when the Racers face East Tennessee State University at 5 p.m., in Lexington, Ky. MSU will remain in Lexington to face 19th ranked University of Kentucky on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Head coach Connie Keasling's squad returns five starters from last season's team that finished 13-10 overall and 8-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers placed third in the regular season and advanced to the OVC Tournament semifinals.
Leading the returning players are senior twin sisters Anna and Rachael Lask (Louisville, Ky.). Anna Lask posted a 19-3 record during the spring season, including a 9-1 mark against conference opponents, on her way to earning all-conference honors for the third time in her career. Rachael Lask picked up All-OVC honors for the second time in three seasons after finishing 17-5 during the spring season, including a perfect 10-0 against OVC foes. The two combined for a 16-3 doubles record.
Casady Pruitt (Merrillville, Ind.) also returns for her senior season. Pruitt won 12 matches during the 2006 spring season, including 10 victories at No. 3 singles. Along with sophomore Anne Pennington (Indianapolis, Ind.) Pruitt posted a 15-6 doubles mark.
Pennington along with fellow sophomore Adriana Alvarez (Durango, Mexico) received plenty of experience as freshmen in 2006. Pennington played in 22 spring singles matches and picked up nine wins in addition to earning a 15-6 doubles record with Pruitt. Of her 22 matches, 15 were played at No. 4 singles.
Alvarez won 10 of 23 singles matches in her first season of collegiate play. She came on strong during the conference portion of the schedule, winning seven of 10 matches against OVC opponents.
Three freshmen join the team this season. Lynsey Bochenek (Orland Park, Ill.), Angela McGahee (Memphis, Tenn.) and Lyndsay Ottosen (Allen, Texas) will look to help the team in their first season.
Bochenek earned all-state honors as a junior and finished second in the Illinois state singles tournament as a junior and senior. McGahee won two Memphis Interscholastic Athletic Association district singles championships during her prep career. Ottosen advanced to the Texas class 5A doubles semifinals as a senior and was ranked No.1 in Texas in doubles and 27th in singles.
Keasling enters her 18th season as the Racers' head coach. She has led her teams to wins in over 61 percent of their matches (264-165) and has won nearly 75 percent of matches against OVC teams (106-36). Keasling has led Murray State to four Ohio Valley Conference Championships including three in a row from 2001 to 2003.
East Tennessee State advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season after posting a 23-4 record and winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. ETSU returns last season's A-Sun Player of the Year in Masha Ilina and the conference's freshman of the year in Tara Byrne. In addition, after a strong fall performance, freshman Yevgeniya Stupak received a No. 23 ranking in the Southeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
No. 19 Kentucky went 19-10 a year ago, advanced to the finals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament and won two matches to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
UK's doubles team of seniors Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk is ranked No. 1 in the Southeast Region ITA rankings. Coventry also garnered singles recognition as she was ranked 24th in the region.
