Tennis begins spring season

The Southeast Missouri State tennis team is in full swing this spring. The team opened the season on Jan. 27 the team has since competed in five matches. The team competed against Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Saint Louis University, Western Illinois and Quincy.

The team won 4-3 against Arkansas State, 5-2 against Western Illinois, 6-1 against Quincy, and the team's two losses came from Central Arkansas and Saint Louis University. The team lost 6-1 during each of those matches.

There is much anticipation this year, as the team hopes to make it into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The tournament hosts the first six seeded teams.

"We really want to get into the OVC Tournament," senior Annisa Warasanti said.

For this year's season, a goal for freshman Kseniya Zonova is to play with better communication.

"We can communicate more, we lose sometimes because of the lack of communication," Zonova said.

There have been some changes to the team since last year as well. There are new players, including three freshmen added to the roster.

Five players also are returning this season from last year, two seniors and three sophomores. The team has been welcoming to the new players.

"When we first came, everybody was friendly with us," Zonova said.

Another change the team has had since last year is better sportsmanship.

"This year our team respects each other and supports each other, we don't play individually, we play as a team," Warasanti said.

Warasanti and Zonova are excited for the season this year. The teams they hope to beat include University of Tennessee-Martin (0-2) and Austin Peay (1-1).

One player to look for this season is Oleksandra Doroshenko. Doroshenko is a freshman from Kharkiv, Ukraine. She lettered all four years in high school. She competed at the Ukraine Championship and finished in the semifinals in singles and the championship round in doubles.

"I think Doroshenko stands out right now; she has gotten recognition from the conference as one the preseason top 10 players," coach Mary Beth Gunn said.

Doroshenko was named to the preseason All-OVC team.

"The team has been working hard, so we are expecting the best this season and we want to give our best," Warasanti said.

The team also has seen improvement.

"I feel like we improved during the fall and we have good chances to keep going and get better," Zonova said.

The team headed to Springfield, Missouri, this past weekend to play against the Missouri State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a pair of tennis matches winning both games beating Missouri 5-2 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7-0. The next home match will be against Evansville at 9 a.m. on March 12.