» By DANIEL NEWTON – dnewton7@my.apsu.edu
The APSU tennis teams prevailed this week over Ohio Valley Conference rivals Tennessee State on Friday, April 6, and Jacksonville State on Saturday, April 7.
The men’s team won both matches convincingly, beating Tennessee State, 7-0, and Jacksonville State, 5-2, to push their overall record to 10-7. In OVC play, the men’s tennis team is currently posting a perfect 5-0 record, outscoring conference opponents 32-3 so far on the season.
In Friday’s game against TSU, the visiting Tigers were able to win only 11 sets in the entire match while the Govs won 66. Junior Sean Bailey has helped the tennis Govs success by being unbeaten in 15 of his last 16 matches.
The Lady Govs had similar success with TSU, winning 6-1 after forfeiting a singles match to give the Tigers their only point. The Lady Govs won every singles match set they competed in and demolished the Tigers in doubles play with a combined 24-1 score over three matches.
The Lady Govs had a harder time with the visiting Gamecocks on Saturday, but were able to squeeze out the victory, 4-3, helping to improve their overall record to 8-12 and stay atop the OVC with a 5-2 record in conference play.
The Lady Govs and Gamecocks split singles play with each team winning three matches, but the Lady Govs won the match by winning doubles play, thanks to wins from the No. 2 team of Sophomore Andra Cornea and freshman Ornella Di Salvo and the No. 3 team of freshmen Vanessa Tavarez and Jovana Karac.
In singles play, the Lady Govs got a big boost from their top players, with wins in the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 4 positions. Senior Vanja Tomic came up big once again for the Lady Govs, winning her 17th straight match, 6-4, 6-1, at the No. 1 position and tying her personal best win streak set in 2010, when she was named OVC player of the year.
The men’s team will look to stay perfect with three conference games remaining while the women’s team has two left.
The men will play Tennessee Tech in Cookeville on Tuesday, April 10, and both teams will play Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Kentucky on Saturday, April 14, and Morehead State on Sunday, April 15, in Morehead, Kentucky. TAS
