Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
Amazing Escape - Racers Advance To OVC Title Tilt
4/18/2009 8:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Murray State Women's Tennis team scored an improbable 4-3 victory over UT Martin in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Saturday at the Larry Heflin/Lone Oak Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky.
The Racers' win came after they fell behind in five of the six single matches by losing the first set, and won three matches that included tiebreakers.
MSU was the No. 3 seed, while the Skyhawks were the No. 2 seed.
The Racers advance to Sunday's championship match against No. 1 Eastern Kentucky who defeated No. 4 Jacksonville State in the other semifinal 4-2.
The title tilt has been moved indoors to the
The match started well enough for MSU with a ton of momentum when they won the doubles point. MSU's No. 2 doubles team of Lyndsay Ottosen and Alexis Webb pulled out a 9-8 win after they came from two points down in the tiebreaker to win 7-5.
The Racers' No. 3 team of Lynsey Bochenek and Cassidy Cunitz were victorious in their match 8-4.
The Racers' outlook was bleak when they fell behind in the singles competition, but sent a buzz through the
MSU's Cassidy Cunitz came from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, followed by Alexis Webb who also lost the first set but was able to get a win 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. With the Match tied 3-3, MSU's No. 1 singles player Anne Pennington scored a straight sets win 7-6, 7-5 to get the deciding point for the Racers.
According to MSU Head Coach Connie Keasling, the tight match with the Skyhawks was not surprising.
“When MSU and UTM play anything has and does happen,” Keasling said. “We've had crazy matches like that before, and it was a hard fought match that could've gone either way.”
“We have finally have come together and are playing together as a team,” Keasling said. “This was a great team win.”
The Racers will be shooting for their seventh OVC Tournament championship after last winning in 2007. The Racers also had title wins in 1984, 1987, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
MSU improved to 15-4 this season.
