Murray State University Athletics
Racers Produce Good Showing At ITA Regionals
10/17/2014 7:54:00 PM | Women's Tennis
ITA Ohio Valley Championship Results
The Murray State women's tennis team produced a positive showing over the weekend at the USTA-ITA Ohio Valley Regionals in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Racer sophomore Eleonore Tchakarova was victorious in two matches including a three hour marathon against Courtney Wild of Ball State. Tchakarova lost the first set 6-4, but hit the jets and got the win by taking the second set 6-1 and then the third 6-4. Eleonora came back Sunday morning to defeat Alyssa Hibberd of Memphis 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Tchakarova was a win from advancing to the quarterfinals when she faced faced off with Vanderbilt's Courtney Colton, the No. 2 seed.  Tchakarova played Colton close, but eventually fell 6-4, 6-2.Â
Racer senior Andrea Eskauriatza started the event with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Northern Kentucky's Hailey Shanahan 6-3, 6-4 Saturday afternoon. Andrea tried to keep her winning ways going, but ran into the No. 1 seed Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt and lost 7-5, 6-2. Eskauriatza got off to a great start and led the first set 5-2, but couldn't hang on.
MSU junior Megan Blue played a three-set match with Kelsey Coots of Chattanooga. Blue got off to a good start and won the first set 6-2. She was close to winning the match but dropped the second set 6-7 and then staved off three match points before dropping the third set 7-5.
Eleonora's twin sister Verginie Tchakarova played a close match with Jesse Grace of Middle Tennessee before falling 4-6, 6-7. Tchkarova had the upper hand in the second set, but couldn't force a third set.
The twin sisters Eleonora and Verginie were entered in the Ohio Valley regional as a doubles team and dropped their match 8-5 to the 7th seed from Indiana Kausss/Klyczek.Â
"I am really proud of the girls and the way they competed this weekend," MSU Head Coach Jorge Caetano said. We played quality tennis against some great opponents and even in the matches we lost, we put ourselves in position to win. We've been working on being more aggressive and taking control of points and we did that."
Megan and Djina both competed really well and the girls who beat them qualified for the main draw and won a round. Andrea had an injury but played through it and still had chances of beating the #1 seed in the second round and Eleonore played amazing and went to the round of 16 where she lost a close match to the number #2 seed. We have a very talented team and this tournament allowed us to establish that we are on the right track and we can compete against any team in the nation."
As the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, the Racers have had a good fall season to this point and gave a good account of themselves this weekend in Knoxville.
The Ohio Valley Regional was hosted by the University of Tennessee at Goodfriend Tennis Center.
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The Murray State women's tennis team produced a positive showing over the weekend at the USTA-ITA Ohio Valley Regionals in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Racer sophomore Eleonore Tchakarova was victorious in two matches including a three hour marathon against Courtney Wild of Ball State. Tchakarova lost the first set 6-4, but hit the jets and got the win by taking the second set 6-1 and then the third 6-4. Eleonora came back Sunday morning to defeat Alyssa Hibberd of Memphis 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Tchakarova was a win from advancing to the quarterfinals when she faced faced off with Vanderbilt's Courtney Colton, the No. 2 seed.  Tchakarova played Colton close, but eventually fell 6-4, 6-2.Â
Racer senior Andrea Eskauriatza started the event with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Northern Kentucky's Hailey Shanahan 6-3, 6-4 Saturday afternoon. Andrea tried to keep her winning ways going, but ran into the No. 1 seed Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt and lost 7-5, 6-2. Eskauriatza got off to a great start and led the first set 5-2, but couldn't hang on.
MSU junior Megan Blue played a three-set match with Kelsey Coots of Chattanooga. Blue got off to a good start and won the first set 6-2. She was close to winning the match but dropped the second set 6-7 and then staved off three match points before dropping the third set 7-5.
Eleonora's twin sister Verginie Tchakarova played a close match with Jesse Grace of Middle Tennessee before falling 4-6, 6-7. Tchkarova had the upper hand in the second set, but couldn't force a third set.
The twin sisters Eleonora and Verginie were entered in the Ohio Valley regional as a doubles team and dropped their match 8-5 to the 7th seed from Indiana Kausss/Klyczek.Â
"I am really proud of the girls and the way they competed this weekend," MSU Head Coach Jorge Caetano said. We played quality tennis against some great opponents and even in the matches we lost, we put ourselves in position to win. We've been working on being more aggressive and taking control of points and we did that."
Megan and Djina both competed really well and the girls who beat them qualified for the main draw and won a round. Andrea had an injury but played through it and still had chances of beating the #1 seed in the second round and Eleonore played amazing and went to the round of 16 where she lost a close match to the number #2 seed. We have a very talented team and this tournament allowed us to establish that we are on the right track and we can compete against any team in the nation."
As the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, the Racers have had a good fall season to this point and gave a good account of themselves this weekend in Knoxville.
The Ohio Valley Regional was hosted by the University of Tennessee at Goodfriend Tennis Center.
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Players Mentioned
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