Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Southeast Missouri
Racers Defeat SEMO, Match Away From OVC Crown
4/12/2014 7:08:00 PM | Women's Tennis
With a 6-1 win at Southeast Missouri, the Murray State women's tennis team is one match away from earning a regular season championship since 2003. A win tomorrow over UT Martin will give them a share of the OVC crown with Eastern Kentucky, but because the Racers defeated the Colonials last week, they hold the tiebreaker.
But before they could start thinking about UT Martin on Sunday, the Racers needed to take on SEMO in Cape Girardeau.
MSU stormed out of the gates, earning the doubles point in dominating fashion with an 8-1 win at second doubles and an 8-0 win at third. Andrea Eskauriatza and Erin Patton on court two are now 8-0 in the OVC and 17-2 this season as a pairing. MSU was also ahead 6-3 on court one when the match was called with the point having been decided.
Coming off her first singles loss a week ago to Morehead, Eskauriatza was determined to get back on the winning side. She did just that with her 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win at the top draw against Valeriia Kashina.
Carla Suga ended a two-match losing streak with a win on court two. Suga won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 over Nagovitcina.
The Racers have three student-athletes undefeated in OVC singles play this year. Megan Blue matched her 8-0 record from a year ago with a win at fourth singles. Eleonore Tchakarova also improved to 8-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 3 position and Verginie Tchakarova stands at 9-0 after her straight set victory (6-2, 6-1) on court five. The last Racer to finish a season at least 9-0 in OVC play was newly-inducted Hall of Famer, Anna Lask in 2007.
"Our team came out focused and with a lot of energy today. I couldn't have been more pleased with how we recovered from our first loss," said head coach Olga Elkin. "We're in a good position because of our strong start, and it's just as important to finish strong ."
The Racers can wrap up the top overall seed in the OVC postseason tournament with a win tomorrow at UT Martin. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Fans can follow along live here.
