Racers Come Up Short, Drop Thrilling Match in Jacksonville

Saturday, March 30

Jacksonville, Ala.

TBA

Murray State

Jacksonville State

Box Score (PDF)

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

3/31/2019 11:48:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Murray State women's tennis travelled to Jacksonville, Alabama to take on Jacksonville State in their sixth consecutive road match on Saturday afternoon. In their third Ohio Valley Conference match of the season, the Racers fell to JSU 4-3 in the final competition before their OVC home opener against UT Martin on Friday.

The duo of Amina Hadzic and Sara Loncarevic were victorious in their doubles match, but the Racers were not able to secure the doubles point overall - dropping two of three matches on the day.

In singles, the Racers managed to earn three points after Stasya Sharapova (6-2, 6-2), Amina Hadzic (6-2, 7-6), and Aarja Chakraborty (6-2, 6-2) all prevailed in their respective matches in straight sets.

"Tough loss for us today especially because of the way it was. We made poor decisions in doubles and did not play to our standards, giving the opponents too many opportunities to attack us. When we had the doubles point in our hands, we let it slip," said MSU head coach Jorge Caetano.

"We had a very promising beginning in singles winning five out of the six first sets, but unfortunately we couldn't find a way to get four wins. The girls battled very hard on every court, but again, the decision making was not good today and we doubted ourselves too much in the important points.

"Jacksonville State played a consistent match but I feel like we gave them way too many free points, and we just can't do that against quality OVC opponents as they will capitalize," added Caetano.

"I am very happy with the way Stasya, Amina and Aarja played today from start to finish. They found a weakness in their opponent's game and stuck to the strategy the whole match. Sara, Claire and Anja had good moments, but just weren't consistent enough today and they know that. Knowing the three of them, I am confident they will work extremely hard this week and will win big matches for us next weekend," concluded Caetano.

The Racers are back in action on Friday afternoon when they host UT Martin in their OVC home opener at the Bennie Purcell Tennis Courts in Murray, Kentucky.