Women's Tennis Begins OVC Title Quest On Saturday

Murray State University's women's tennis team will begin its quest for the program's sixth Ohio Valley Conference championship on Saturday. The second seeded Racers received a first round bye in the 2007 O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Women's Tennis Tournament and will play the winner of the Eastern Illinois/Southeast Missouri match at 10 a.m., at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn.

The OVC title match is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m., at the Centennial Sportsplex. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Racers enter the tournament with a 14-5 record and a 9-1 OVC mark. Murray State has won 11 straight matches. MSU's last loss came against Samford University on March 10. The Bulldogs, the OVC tournament No. 1 seed, edged the Racers 4-3.

Samford finished its OVC schedule with a 10-0 mark. The Bulldogs are 12-4 overall. Samford will face the winner of the UT Martin/Eastern Kentucky match on Saturday at 10 a.m.

The Murray State line-up is a mix of three seniors and three true freshmen. Seniors Anna Lask, Rachael Lask and Casady Pruitt have anchored the top three spots. First-year players Angela McGahee, Lynsey Bochenek and Lyndsay Ottosen have played very well against OVC opponents in the bottom three spots.

Anna Lask carries a perfect 9-0 singles mark against conference foes into the tournament. She is 16-2 overall during the spring season. All of her matches have been played at No. 1 singles. The senior earned OVC Female Tennis Athlete of the Week honors on March 14, April 4 and April 11.

Rachael Lask is 6-3 against league opponents and Pruitt has a 7-2 mark against the OVC.

McGahee has compiled a 7-3 OVC singles record during her first collegiate season. Bochenek is 5-4 against OVC opponents.

Ottosen has helped the Racers tremendously at the No. 6 spot. The freshman is 14-5 overall in singles matches this spring, including 10-3 at No. 6. She is 9-1 in singles matches played against conference opponents. Ottosen's eight-match winning streak is the longest on the team.

The Racers strength has been their doubles play. MSU has earned the doubles point in 14 of the 18 matches in which doubles have been played. The Racers won the doubles point in all 10 OVC matches.

Against OVC opponents, Anna Lask and Rachael Lask are 9-1 at No. 1 doubles, Ottosen and Pruitt are 5-3 at No. 2 doubles and the freshman tandem of Bochenek and McGahee is a perfect 9-0 at No. 3.

Murray State Head Coach Connie Keasling has compiled a 278-170 record in 18 seasons at the helm of the women's tennis program. She has led her teams to a 115-37 (.757) mark in regular season matches against Ohio Valley Conference teams.

Under Keasling's direction, Murray State has finished in the top three in the conference in 14 of the last 18 seasons.

Keasling has led the program to four of its five OVC championships and all three of its NCAA tournament appearances.

Murray State University Athletics

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