CHARLESTON, Ill. - Austin Peay put a damper on the Eastern Illinois women's tennis team's senior day narrowly edging out the Panthers 4-3 Saturday morning in EIU's final home match of the year.
With the loss the EIU women wrap up their final home stand of the season at 12-7 overall with APSU improving 6-8 on the season. Both teams remain tied in the OVC with identical 4-3 conference records following the match.
The Lady Governors took the early lead over the Panthers securing the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions to head into singles play with a 1-0 advantage.
The Panthers picked up two straight set victories thanks to Srishti Slaria and Emily Pugachevsky from the No. 4 and No. 6 spots respectively. With her win, Pugachevsky's win streak was extended to seven games as she is now 12-2 on the year and remains a perfect 6-0 in conference play. Slaria's win puts her back at .500 on the year at 8-8 as she closes out the weekend with back-to-back singles wins to improve to 2-4 in OVC play.
The match eventually came down to the No. 2 and No. 3 positions as APSU held a 3-2 lead over the Panthers with Grace Summers and Stella Cliffe heading into a third set.
Summers picked up the three set victory over Claudia Yanes Garcia to tie the match 3-3 and snap Garcia's nine-match win streak handing Garcia her first loss in conference play. With the win, Summers improved to 5-1 in the OVC.
Both Summers and Cliffe fought back after dropping the opening set of their matches, but Cliffe was unable to complete the comeback as Helena Kuppig would pick up the win 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to earn the match win for APSU.
The Panthers close out the 2017 regular season next weekend with matches at Southeast Missouri Friday (Apr. 14) and UT Martin Saturday (Apr. 15).
Austin Peay 4, Eastern Illinois 3
Singles competition
1. Lidia Yanes Garcia (APSU) def. IDEN, Kelly (EIUW) 6-0, 6-2
2. SUMMERS, Grace (EIUW) def. Claudia Yanes Garcia (APSU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Helena Kuppig (APSU) def. CLIFFE, Stella (EIUW) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
4. SLARIA, Srishti (EIUW) def. Brittney Covington (APSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Ana Albertson (APSU) def. MOSHTEVA, Maria (EIUW) 6-4, 6-3
6. PUGACHEVSKY, Emily (EIUW) def. Isabela Jovanovic (APSU) 6-2, 7-6 (5-3)
Doubles competition
1. Ana Albertson/Helena Kuppig (APSU) def. IDEN, Kelly/CLIFFE, Stella (EIUW) 6-1
2. SUMMERS, Grace/STADALNINKAITE, K. (EIUW) vs. Claudia Yanes Garcia/Brittney Covington (APSU) 4-3, unfinished
3. Lidia Yanes Garcia/Isabela Jovanovic (APSU) def. PUGACHEVSKY, Emily/SLARIA, Srishti (EIUW) 6-3
