Murray State University Athletics
Saturday, April 18
Nashville, Tenn.
10 a.m.
Murray State
4
vs
0
Eastern Illinois
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
/ Women's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Women's Tennis
Racers Sweep EIU; Advance to Championship
4/18/2015 3:39:00 PM | Women's Tennis
With the finish line in sight, the Murray State women's tennis team will head to the Ohio Valley Conference Championship after defeating Eastern Illinois 4-0. MSU will face the No. 2 seed Eastern Kentucky at 9 a.m. at the Centennial Sports Complex in Nashville, Tennessee.
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The Racers put the doubles pairs on the court and began the fight for the ticket to the championship match. Alena Vasileva and Nancy Karaky were the first Racers to take the doubles match on court three.
It was a hard fought battle on courts one and two for which team would clinch the doubles point. Andrea Eskauriatza and Erin Patton fought through and took defeated Eastern Illinois on court two for the sacred doubles point.
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Going into the singles, MSU knew they only needed three wins to make their way to the finals. Erin Patton continued her winning ways from the regular season and was the first to take a singles victory.
Eskauriatza soon joined Patton with a victory on court one. With all of the Racers up 1-0 on the final four courts, MSU needed just one student-athlete to pull out a win.
Eleonore Tchakarova in the No. 2 position clinched the victory for the Racers and helped push them into the championship match against Eastern Kentucky.
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"We are very happy we are going to have the chance to play for the championship tomorrow morning" said head coach Jorge Caetano. "The girls did a fantastic job today against a very good EIU team. We lost to them in the regular season and the girls really wanted to play them again."
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"Doubles was very close, but it is exactly in the big moments that these girls play their best tennis," Cateano added. "All of them stepped up at the right moment and we were able to get the doubles point. In the regular season we also won the doubles point against them so we knew we had to start the singles even stronger and that's what we did. We won the first set in all 6 courts and that gave us a lot of confidence to close out the match."
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Eastern Kentucky defeated Morehead State to find their way into the championship match. As the regular season champions, EKU earned a bye into the semifinals like MSU and earned the No. 2 seeding.
During the regular season, Murray State defeated the Colonels 5-2 at Purcell Courts. Amandine Faouzi was named OVC Player of the Year, and their team boasts two All-OVC players.
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"Tomorrow is going to be another tough one" Caetano continued, "It is always tough against EKU and everytime we play each other, both teams bring their best game so I am very excited to see the girls competing for another championship. We will probably play indoors tomorrow which makes things a little bit different but the girls always enjoy it so that won't be a problem, we are going to the match with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can bring another trophy back to Murray."
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Singles competition
1. ESKAURIATZA, Andrea (MUR) def. IDEN, Kelly (EIUW) 6-3, 6-1
2. TCHAKAROVA, Eleonore (MUR) def. FOSTER, Ali (EIUW) 6-2, 6-2
3. BLUE, Megan (MUR) vs. SUMMERS, Grace (EIUW) unfinished
4. KARAKY, Nancy (MUR) vs. BOULBAHAIEM, Sephora (EIUW) unfinished
5. VASILEVA, Alena (MUR) vs. KIMBROUGH, Hannah (EIUW) unfinished
6. PATTON, Erin (MUR) def. MOSHTEVA, Maria (EIUW) 6-1, 6-1
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Doubles competition
1. TCHAKAROVA, Eleonore/TCHAKAROVA, Verginie (MUR) def. SUMMERS, Grace/BOULBAHAIEM, Sephora (EIUW) 8-6
2. ESKAURIATZA, Andrea/PATTON, Erin (MUR) vs. FOSTER, Ali/KIMBROUGH, Hannah (EIUW) 7-7, unfinished
3. VASILEVA, Alena/BLUE, Megan (MUR) def. IDEN, Kelly/STADALNINKAITE, K. (EIUW) 8-3
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The Racers put the doubles pairs on the court and began the fight for the ticket to the championship match. Alena Vasileva and Nancy Karaky were the first Racers to take the doubles match on court three.
It was a hard fought battle on courts one and two for which team would clinch the doubles point. Andrea Eskauriatza and Erin Patton fought through and took defeated Eastern Illinois on court two for the sacred doubles point.
Â
Going into the singles, MSU knew they only needed three wins to make their way to the finals. Erin Patton continued her winning ways from the regular season and was the first to take a singles victory.
Eskauriatza soon joined Patton with a victory on court one. With all of the Racers up 1-0 on the final four courts, MSU needed just one student-athlete to pull out a win.
Eleonore Tchakarova in the No. 2 position clinched the victory for the Racers and helped push them into the championship match against Eastern Kentucky.
Â
"We are very happy we are going to have the chance to play for the championship tomorrow morning" said head coach Jorge Caetano. "The girls did a fantastic job today against a very good EIU team. We lost to them in the regular season and the girls really wanted to play them again."
Â
"Doubles was very close, but it is exactly in the big moments that these girls play their best tennis," Cateano added. "All of them stepped up at the right moment and we were able to get the doubles point. In the regular season we also won the doubles point against them so we knew we had to start the singles even stronger and that's what we did. We won the first set in all 6 courts and that gave us a lot of confidence to close out the match."
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Eastern Kentucky defeated Morehead State to find their way into the championship match. As the regular season champions, EKU earned a bye into the semifinals like MSU and earned the No. 2 seeding.
During the regular season, Murray State defeated the Colonels 5-2 at Purcell Courts. Amandine Faouzi was named OVC Player of the Year, and their team boasts two All-OVC players.
Â
"Tomorrow is going to be another tough one" Caetano continued, "It is always tough against EKU and everytime we play each other, both teams bring their best game so I am very excited to see the girls competing for another championship. We will probably play indoors tomorrow which makes things a little bit different but the girls always enjoy it so that won't be a problem, we are going to the match with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can bring another trophy back to Murray."
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Singles competition
1. ESKAURIATZA, Andrea (MUR) def. IDEN, Kelly (EIUW) 6-3, 6-1
2. TCHAKAROVA, Eleonore (MUR) def. FOSTER, Ali (EIUW) 6-2, 6-2
3. BLUE, Megan (MUR) vs. SUMMERS, Grace (EIUW) unfinished
4. KARAKY, Nancy (MUR) vs. BOULBAHAIEM, Sephora (EIUW) unfinished
5. VASILEVA, Alena (MUR) vs. KIMBROUGH, Hannah (EIUW) unfinished
6. PATTON, Erin (MUR) def. MOSHTEVA, Maria (EIUW) 6-1, 6-1
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Doubles competition
1. TCHAKAROVA, Eleonore/TCHAKAROVA, Verginie (MUR) def. SUMMERS, Grace/BOULBAHAIEM, Sephora (EIUW) 8-6
2. ESKAURIATZA, Andrea/PATTON, Erin (MUR) vs. FOSTER, Ali/KIMBROUGH, Hannah (EIUW) 7-7, unfinished
3. VASILEVA, Alena/BLUE, Megan (MUR) def. IDEN, Kelly/STADALNINKAITE, K. (EIUW) 8-3
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