Murray State University Athletics
Eskauriatza OVC Athlete of the Week For Second Time
4/15/2014 10:16:00 AM | Women's Tennis
OVC Release | Team Stats
As Murray State's women's tennis team prepares for the OVC championship tournament later in the week, the conference honored junior Andrea Eskauriatza as the adidas® OVC Tennis Athlete of the Week for the second time this season.
Eskauriatza was vital as the Racers wrapped up their first regular season championship since 2003. She went 4-0 on the week with a pair of singles wins and two more wins at doubles.
Needing a win in the final match of the year against UT Martin, Eskauriatza secured the important doubles point for the Racers with partner, Erin Patton. With their match heading to a tiebreaker at second doubles, Eskauriatza and Patton pulled away with a 7-1 tiebreaker for an 8-7 match win.
Eskauriatza also had a pair of straight set singles wins this past weekend, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) over Valeriia Kashina of Southeast Missouri, and 6-0, 6-1 over Ivon Simic of UTM.
This is the second time Eskauriatza has won the adidas® OVC Tennis Athlete of the Week this year. She was also honored for the week of March 23-30. Eskauriatza is the first Racer to win the award twice in the same season since Anna Lask in 2007.
Eskauriatza finished the regular season with an 8-1 OVC record, all at first singles. Dating back to the fall, Eskauriatza's record is 21-5 in singles play. On the doubles court, Eskauriatza and Patton went undefeated in the OVC with a 9-0 record. She finished the season with a 19-4 record in doubles, 18 of those wins coming with Patton.
After capturing the OVC regular season title, the Racers will turn their attention to the OVC championship tournament. MSU last won the championship tournament in 2007. As the No. 1 seed, the Racers will have a bye heading into the semifinal round. Their first matchup will be the winner of the No. 4 – No. 5 matchup between SIU Edwardsville and UTM. That match will take place Friday, April 18 at 2 p.m. at the Larry J. Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky. Admission is free for spectators.
