Story by Cory Sharber, contributing writer

Murray State’s women’s tennis team fell on the road to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday in a 7-0 shutout.

Following an appearance earlier in the week at the Spring Kick-Off in Troy, Alabama, which saw multiple victories for the Racers, the team travelled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in which no victories surfaced.

In singles competition, freshmen Stasya Sharapova, from Astana, Kazakhstan, and Aarja Chakraborty, from Gautam Budh Nagar, India, both lost in tiebreaker sets. Sharapova fell to junior Costanza Magazzini 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) and 10-5 in the tiebreaker and Chakraborty lost to junior Kim Kermet 4-6, 6-3 and 10-3 in the tiebreaker.

The rest of the Racer tennis team fell in straight sets to all of their opponents. Sophomore Claire Chang, from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, lost to senior Maria Josefina Zehnder 6-2, 6-4. Junior Jeanne Masson, from Dinard, France, fell to freshman Lee Barnard 6-1, 6-1, while sophomore Sara Loncarevic, from Guilherand Granges, France, lost to freshman Zani Barnard 6-2, 7-5. Sophomore Sara Bjork, from Malmo, Sweden, was defeated by sophomore Marta Peris Herrero 6-3, 6-0.

For doubles action, the story remained the same for the Racers. Two matches ended in defeat, while one match was left unfinished. The team of Sharapova and sophomore Anja Loncarevic, from Guilherand Granges, France, were defeated by Zehnder and Herrero 6-1. The team of Masson and Bjork were defeated by Lee and Zani Bernard 6-1. The team of Chakraborty and Chang’s match was left unfinished in a 5-3 result against Kermet and junior Luisa Zirilli.

The next match for the Racers will take place at 2 p.m. at the Kenlake Tennis Center in Hardin, Kentucky on Feb. 8.