Murray State's Andrea Eskauriatza and Erin Patton during their semifinal doubles match
Murray State and Eastern Kentucky advance into OVC Women’s Tennis Championship Match
Murray State def. UT Martin 4-2 Box Score
Eastern Kentucky def. Morehead State 4-1 Box Score
Both Murray State and Eastern Kentucky were winners in their OVC Women’s Tennis Championship semifinal matches on Friday afternoon. The #1 seed Murray State Racers defeated the #5 seed UT Martin Skyhawks, 4-2, while the #2 seed Eastern Kentucky Colonels beat the #3 seed Morehead State Eagles, 4-1.
UT Martin took the doubles point against Murray State and jumped out to an early, 1-0 lead by winning at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. The Skyhawks’ doubles duo of Ivon Simic and Sarah Candeloro defeated Murray State’s pair of Eleonore Tchakarova and Verginie Tchakarova at No. 1 doubles, 8-5. At No. 2 doubles, UT Martin’s Burcu Tari and Hitomi Naito beat Andrea Eskauriatza and Erin Patton of Murray State, 8-5, to win the doubles point. The No. 3 doubles match was left unfinished as Murray State’s Carla Suga and Megan Blue were leading UT Martin’s Jessica Silva and Katie McCall, 6-1.
After losing the doubles point, Murray State took control of the match in singles action by winning at No. 1, No. 2, No. 5, and No. 6 singles. At No. 1 singles, the Racers’ Andrea Eskauriatza defeated the Skyhawks’ Ivon Simic, 6-1, 6-0. Eleonore Tchakarova of Murray State beat Hitomi Naito of UT Martin, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 2 position. UT Martin’s lone singles match win came at No. 3 singles when Sarah Candeloro defeated Murray State’ Cara Suga, 6-1, 6-2. At No. 5 singles, the Racers’ Verginie Tchakarova beat the Skyhawks’ Jessica Silva, 6-1, 6-2. To clinch the match, Murray State’s Erin Patton defeated Katie McCall of UT Martin at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 6-2. Megan Blue of Murray State was beating UT Martin’s Burcu Tari 6-3, 5-2, when the match was concluded.
Morehead State went up 1-0 on Eastern Kentucky after winning the doubles point. No. 1 doubles clinched the point for the Eagles after their No. 3 doubles team of Hayley Wild and Andrea LeBlanc defeated Morehead State’s Amandine Faouzi, 8-2. Eastern Kentucky won at No. 2 doubles as Saioa Oscoz and Carmen Rodriguez beat Dominique McLean and Sandrine Beaule, 8-2. Briar Preston and Alex Tachovsky of Morehead State then defeated Kristina Labeja and Melissa Gerritsen of Eastern Kentucky, 8-6, at the top doubles spot.
Singles play began with Eastern Kentucky making a strong push, winning quickly at the No. 5 position and then at No. 4, No. 2, and No. 1 singles. At the No. 5 spot, the Colonels’ Milena Poffo defeated the Eagles’ Sandrine Beaule, 6-0, 6-0. Eastern Kentucky’s Saioa Oscoz beat Morehead State’s Alex Tachovsky, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 4 singles. At the No. 2 position, Amandine Faouzi of Eastern Kentucky defeated Andrea LeBlanc of Morehead State, 6-4, 6-2. The clinching match came down to No. 1 singles as Kristina Labeja of Eastern Kentucky beat Briar Preston of Morehead State in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. Both No. 3 and No. 6 singles did not finish before the match concluded. At No. 6 singles, Morehead States’ Hayley Wild was winning, 2-6, 6-4, 5-1, over Eastern Kentucky’s Carmen Rodriguez. Melissa Gerritsen of Eastern Kentucky was ahead 7-6 (7), 3-3 against Dominique McLean of Morehead State at No. 3 singles.
In the OVC Women’s Tennis Championship match, #1 seed Murray State will take on #2 seed Eastern Kentucky. The championship match will start tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. CST at the Larry J. Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky. Both teams will be playing for an automatic bid into the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Championship tournament.