Tennis Begins Campaign with Two Wins

Friday, January 28

Huntington, WV

12 p.m.

Murray State

Eastern Michigan

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

1/31/2022 11:34:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score 3

Murray State Tennis Began the Season with Wins Over Eastern Michigan and Bellarmine

Murray State women's tennis began their 2022 season over the weekend, going 2-1 with wins over Eastern Michigan and Bellarmine while falling tightly to Marshall with matches being played in Huntington, West Virginia and Louisville, Kentucky.

The Racers began their campaign on Friday (Jan. 28) with a 4-3 win over Eastern Michigan. The doubles team of Stasya Sharapova and Annika Pschorr secured the first point for Murray State with a 6-4 victory. Gabrielle Geolier and Natalie Slezakova pushed the Racer lead with a doubles victory of their own.

In singles competition, Slezakova grew the lead for the Racers with a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Sarah Bureau would continue the Racers hot start to the season with a singles victory of her own before Eastern Michigan won their first point to make it a 3-1 Murray State lead. Pschorr won her singles match to give the Racers the decisive fourth tally. Eastern Michigan would win the final two singles matches of the day to make the final count 4-3 in favor of Murray State.

"We were down in the first set of every match against Eastern Michigan, but the girls showed a lot of grit and found a way to come back and get the 4 points we needed," Head Coach Jorge Caetano said. "Total team effort there because Eastern Michigan definitely brought it to us."

Murray State continued their action this weekend with a hard-fought 4-3 defeat to Marshall on Saturday (Jan. 29). The Racers would take the doubles point with victories by Sharapova/Pschorr and the team of Bureau and Marit Kreugel. Marshall would win the first three singles matchups of the day to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of the Thundering Herd. Sharapova and Kreugel would both be victorious in their singles matchups to draw the score to 3-3 before Marshall took the final singles point to win the match 4-3.

"We started really strong in doubles but then Marshall took control of the match in singles," Caetano said. "Our team responded very well when we had our backs against the wall but unfortunately, we were not able to pull off the comeback. Marshall has a really strong program, and it was great to see us competing at such a high level on our second match of the season."

The Racers rounded out the weekend with an impressive sweep of Bellarmine going 7-0 against the in-state foe. Murray State was dominant in all three doubles games with the team of Paola Campigotto and Jordina Font winning 6-2, Pschorr and Sharapova winning 6-3, and Kreugel and Bureau winning 6-0. The success would carry over to the singles side with each member of the Racers squad picking up a victory against the Knights.

"It was good to see the girls stepping up their game and dominating every match from start to finish. Doubles looked great and in singles, everyone took care of business," Caetano said.

Every member of the team won at least one singles and one doubles this weekend. Sharapova went a perfect 3-0 in doubles and 2-0 in singles to start the season.

The Racers will be back in action on February 6 at the Kenlake Tennis Center against Cumberland (Tenn.).