DANVILLE, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's tennis had to move its Ohio Valley Conference opener indoors on Friday as weather forced the Panthers to host Southeast Missouri at the Danville Tennis Center.
SEMO, the defending OVC champion, was able to win the doubles point and eventually claim a 6-1 win over EIU. The Panthers fell to 2-13 on the season, 0-1 in the OVC and will host UT Martin on Saturday afternoon at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign. SEMO improved to 9-4 overall, 1-0 in the OVC.
In doubles play the Redhawks were able to secure the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. EIU's No. 1 doubles pair of
Addison Brown and
Christine Gouws was leading 5-4 when their match was left unfinished due to SEMO clinching the point.
In singles play
Elizaveta Bukraba-Ulanova won a three-set contest at No. 2 singles over Ksenia Shikanova. Bukraba-Ulanova won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to pick up EIU's lone point in the match.
The Panthers nearly added a second point at No. 1 singles with
Rachel Papavasilopoulos losing in three sets to Romano Tarajova. Papavasilopoulos won 6-1 in the opening set before dropping the second set in a tiebreak. Tarajova won the final set to secure the point. Tarajova won 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.
Playing at No. 5 singles Britany Steven was competitive in her two set loss to Vivian Lai falling 6-3, 7-5.
