OVC Women's Tennis  |  Championship Site (Hosted by APSU)
OVC Championship Bracket (PDF)  |  2013 All-OVC Squads (PDF)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- For the second consecutive year, Eastern Illinois women's tennis will be one of six teams competing at the annual Ohio Valley Conference championship this weekend.  All action will take place at the Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky.

As the overall No. 4 Seed, the EIU women finished the 2013 regular-season with an impressive 12-5 overall mark and 7-3 league record.

Eastern will open the three-day event at 10 a.m. on Friday (April 19), facing No. 5 Austin Peay.  Ironically, the Panthers and Lady Govs also battled each other in last season's first round action, with APSU earning a 4-2 victory.  In that tough loss, current EIU players Sephora Boulbahaiem and Kristen Laird earned the lone points the EIU by winning their respective No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches in straight sets.

Just this past March, the Panthers earned an identical 4-2 revenge win to top the Lady Govs, although the contest held indoors at the nearby Wabash Valley Tennis Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., due to the late winter snow storm in the area.

Austin Peay will enter championship action at 9-12 overall and finished with an even 5-5 mark in OVC play.

QUOTING COACH BLACKBURN
“Us and Austin Peay had a very good indoor match early in the conference season," said head coach John Blackburn.  "Yet I think both teams have improved and changed since that match in mid-March, so I expect a great match on Friday.

“I think we played good tennis overall last weekend, even though we split the two matches versus EKU and MOR. Our team is very excited about competing in the OVC Tournament once again and we have high standards and expectations for the level we'll need to play at this weekend."

QUICK LOOK AT EIU
At 12-4 overall and 8-2 in league-only action, senior Merritt Whitley, who earned Second Team All-OVC honors last spring, paces the Panthers, where she has seen action at all three top spots in the lineup, but has mostly played at the No. 2 spot.  When teamed with returning First Team All-OVC honoree Janelle Prisner, the duo are 8-4 overall and 4-2 in OVC action at the top of the doubles lineup.

Prisner, meanwhile, owns a 8-7 singles record, including a 4-5 league tally, where she has played all of her matches at the No. 1 spot.

Sophomore Sephora Boulbahaiem follows with a 12-5 overall and 7-3 league record, as she's played at both No. 2 or No. 3 singles.  She also sports an 8-5 duo mark when paired with three different Panthers.

Junior Jennifer Kim and senior Kristen Laird own respective 9-4/6-3 and 8-7/5-3 records this season with each coming in to OVC play riding a win streak.  Laird is nearly perfect at 10-2 on the year at the No. 3 doubles spot when teamed with newcomer Ali Foster.

“This team at its best  has definitely been a collective, group effort," added Blackburn.  "It's hard for me to highlight one or two players that have been the absolute keys to our wins lately, it has really been the team as whole. Our goal will be to all come together and play well as a complete group this weekend, if we do that it should be very exciting.”

Team-wise, the EIU women are an impressive 63-36 overall in singles and 29-11 at duos thus far this season.  The Panthers enjoyed a stretch of four straight match wins on two occasions as EIU finished with the best regular-season record (12-5/.706) since the 1994 campaign (21-5/.808).

LOOK AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
The top six squads in the OVC standings advance to the end-of-year tournament, with regular-season champion Eastern Kentucky (17-6/10-0) as the No. 1 Seed yet again, followed by Jacksonville State (14-10/8-2) and Murray State (11-7/8-2) just ahead of the Panthers as the No. 2 and No. 3 Seeds.  Austin Peay and league newcomer Belmont (9-9/5-5) round out the field at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

The No. 4 Seed is the highest by an Eastern squad since the 2007 squad entered as the No. 3 Seed following an identical 7-3 league finish.

The EIU/APSU winner will face the top-seed EKU Colonels in a semifinal match set for a 10 a.m. start on Saturday (April 20).  The OVC championship match will follow on Sunday (April 21), also at 10 a.m., with the winner receiving the league's automatic berth to the NCAAs.

Fans may follow complete action at the three-day event by checking out either the OVC website or thru APSU's host site, with links to both available above.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID