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HomeSportsWeekend set opens Lady Govs tennis season

Weekend set opens Lady Govs tennis season

APSU Women’s Tennis

Austin Peay State University GovernorsClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s tennis team will have its first test with a pair of weekend matches, beginning with a 2:00pm, Friday match against Belmont followed by a 1:00pm, Saturday match against Lipscomb. Both matches will be played at the Governors Indoor Tennis Center. The weekend matches will be season openers for all three programs.

The Lady Govs are coming off a banner year for the program where they not only won the Ohio Valley Conference tourney championship and made APSU’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, but also won the league’s Player of the Year, Vanja Tomic, and Freshman of the Year, Carolin Weikard.

APSU Women's Tennis. (Photo Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information)
APSU Women's Tennis. (Photo Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information)

Head coach Malik Tabet, the OVC’s co-Coach of the Year, will be amidst some rebuilding after losing a pair of All-OVC seniors Mariana Pagan and Michelle Liew. Those two combined for a 20-9 record at Nos. 3 and 4, supplementing Tomic and Weikard at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

This year will see a number of freshmen faces making up the bottom of the lineup. Andra Cornea, who joined the team at the Spring semester’s beginning, will play at No. 3. Kimberly Loo comes in at No. 4, while Rachel Margolies, who finished the fall at 7-1, will likely play at No. 4.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Tabet said. “We played well against these teams last year and our team looks better this year. We have to make sure we can stay healthy this year. These matches are important to help us figure out what kind of adjustments we have to make as things go on.”

One focus for Tabet will be continue to determine doubles match-ups for his relatively new team. For the weekend, Weikard and Loo will team up at No. 1; they were undefeated at 6-0 during the fall. Tomic, meanwhile, will team with newcomer Cornea in what will be their first live matches.

Belmont saw success in its Fall tournaments, particularly at Vanderbilt’s June Stewart Invitational where two Bruins won consolation titles. Senior Lindsay Bennett won the Peterson Draw consolation, while sophomore Natalia Nunes won the Roby Draw consolation.

Lipscomb will be making its second trip to Clarksville, after playing in the Austin Peay Winter Fling in October. Although the Bison won eight singles matches during the tournament, they were winless in four singles matches against the Lady Govs.

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