Racers Split Thursday Doubleheader

Thursday, January 30

Kenlake Tennis Center

1 P.M.

Murray State

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

1/30/2020 10:24:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score Match 1 (PDF)Box Score Match 2 (PDF)

Murray State women's tennis returned home for a nonconference doubleheader on Thursday, hosting Middle Tennessee and Cumberland at the Kenlake Tennis Center. While the Racers fell to the Blue Raiders 5-2 in the first match, they would bounce back to split the day when they defeated Cumberland 6-1 in the nightcap.

Murray State started strong out of the gate, taking the doubles point from the Blue Raiders after the team of Sara Loncarevic / Anja Loncarevic earned a 6-4 victory in #2 doubles, before the duo of Sara Bjork and Marit Kreugel prevailed 7-5 at the #3 position to secure the point for the Racers.

Despite a straight-set victory from Marit Kreugel at #5 singles to put the Racers on the board in singles competition, MTSU would storm back to take the remaining five singles matches to escape with a 5-2 victory.

"MTSU is always a tough match, but we take many positives from this loss. We won the doubles point, which we have never done before against them, and we were up in singles in the beginning. The girls played a very good match but, unfortunately, we fell short in three three-setters. Props to MTSU, because they just played very good tennis in the end," said MSU head coach Jorge Caetano.

The Racers would once again post an impressive performance during doubles play in the match against Cumberland, as Bjork and Kreugel notched their second doubles win of the day with a dominant 6-0 triumph at #2 doubles. Anja Loncarevic and Claire Chang also cruised to a 6-2 win, as the Racers secured the doubles point for the fourth-straight match to open the 2020 campaign.

In singles, Claire Chang (6-2, 6-1), Anja Loncarevic (6-0, 6-0), Marit Kreugel (6-0, 6-0), Sara Bjork (6-0, 6-3), and Samantha Muller (6-2, 6-1) all earned victories in straight sets to fuel the Racers to a 6-1 win over the Phoenix.

"The girls took care of business, and I'm happy with the performance. We won the doubles point again which makes four in a row this season, and we played with a lot of confidence in all singles matches," added Caetano.

"Marit and Sara Bjork had a great day in singles, and especially in doubles. They saved two match points in their doubles match against MTSU to come back and clinch the doubles point for us, and were very dominant against Cumberland. In singles, they both dominated their opponents and played with a lot of confidence - hitting the right spots on the court and not giving the opponents a chance to come back."

After today's matches, Marit Kreugel improved to 4-0 on the season in singles competition, while the team of Kreugel and Sara Bjork also remain unbeaten in doubles with a 4-0 mark in 2020.

The Racers return to action on February 7^th, when they travel to Springfield, Missouri for a meeting with Missouri State.