SEMO tennis celebrates weekend conference sweep and Senior Day

With two back-to-back wins against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville on Friday, April 19 and Eastern Illinois University on Saturday, April 20, the Southeast tennis team moved to .500 in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 4-4 record.

The Redhawks’ 6-1 overall victory over SIUE on Friday gave Southeast its third conference win of the season. The match took place at the McCracken County High School tennis facility where junior Kseniya Zonova and freshmen Sneha Sinha, Romana Tarajova and Manuela Barriga earned doubles and singles wins.

Zonova and Sinha both competed in the women’s No. 2 doubles, winning the match 6-3.

Tarajova and Barriga also won the No. 3 doubles match with a score of 6-4. Senior Isabella Krupa and freshman Teona Velkoska competed in the No. 1 doubles, tying the first match 6-6.

For the No. 5 singles match, Sinha captured her 10th dual victory this season, winning 6-4, 6-2.

Zonova won 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles, while Velkoska posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory in No. 4 singles.

Match two on Saturday against Eastern Illinois gave Southeast its fourth conference win as they recognized Anais Emelie, who hails from Palaiseau, France, and Isabella Krupa, from Kissimmee, Florida, on Senior Day.

Zonova won both sets in the No. 2 singles match with scores of 7-5, 6-3. The No. 3 singles victory went to Krupa in 6-3, 6-2 fashion. Also winning was Velkoska at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-2; Sinha at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-3 and Barriga at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-0.

As for the No. 2 doubles, the duo of Zonova and Barriga earned a 6-1 win.

In the No. 3 doubles, Barriga and Tarajova recorded a 6-3 win.

The No. 5 seeded Redhawks will take on No. 4 Belmont in the 2019 OVC Women’s Tennis Championship at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday, April 26.

Despite the loss of two seniors, the tennis team will return a a team of sophomores, juniors and seniors next year; Barriga, Sinha, Tarajova, Velkoska, Grace Powderly, junior Zonova and sophomore Maja Lundell.