Andrea Jameson
Contributing Writer
The Murray State women’s tennis team traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete against both Samford University and University of Alabama. The Racers lost both matches with scores of 3-4 and 0-7, respectively.
The team played their first outdoor match of the season against Samford on Feb. 27, with a competitive stance.
“We always like to schedule those matches to see where we are,” said Head Coach Jorge Caetano. “We came close against Samford. The key there was the doubles. We had our chances and ended up losing the point.”
In the doubles matches, sophomore Marit Kreugel and redshirt senior Sara Loncarevic came out victorious with scores of 6-2 against Samford.
Individually, redshirt senior Anja Loncarevic made it to the third round with scores of 2-6-6 along with senior Stasya Sharapova fighting for the point with scores of 7-5-1. Sophomore Marit Kreugal and freshman Sarah Bureau each finished in the second set with scores of 7-7 and 6-6, respectively.
“Anja, coming back to the lineup, was able to win a third-set match [even though] she hasn’t played any matches in singles in over a year,” Caetano said. “It was good to see her competing again in singles.”
The second game against the University of Alabama ended in a loss for the Racers, but they still came up with a win in the doubles matches. Sophomore Samantha Muller and Anja Loncarevic won their match with a score of 6 in the first round.
Individual scores featured Sharapova standing ground with three rounds ending in scores of 7-2-4 and sophomore Marit Kreugal competing in the third set with scores of 7-4-1.
“Stasya played really well. She lost her third set knowing she got really close,” Caetano said. “She keeps fighting until the very end. Her attitude is amazing and the way she is handling herself, she knows she is going to bounce back in the next match.”
“We are really going to try and play offensive tennis,” Caetano said. “We are looking forward to working on the things that we saw this past weekend that we didn’t do well. The key for us is to figure out ways of hanging with the opponent and staying competitive. Anything can happen the longer we hang in there.”
The Murray State women’s tennis team will compete next on Saturday, March 6, at 1 p.m. against University of Southern Indiana at the Kenlake Tennis Center.
