Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) women’s tennis team puts its undefeated season on the line when it takes on Southeast Missouri in the Ohio Valley Conference Semifinals, 10:00am, Saturday, April 27th at Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville Tennessee.
The Governors (20-0, 8-0 OVC) boast OVC Coach of the Year Ross Brown as well as five All-OVC selections. Claudia and Lidia Yanes Garcia earned First-Team honors, while Tatiana Lopez, Fabienne Schmidt, and Helena Kuppig were all Second-Team selections.
The Govs clinched their first OVC Regular Season title since 1989 with wins over rival Murray State and Belmont and also saw Lidia win her fourth career Player of the Week award.
Murray offered the strongest resistance of any conference opponent this season, taking two singles matches, but comfortable singles wins from Lidia and Lopez led the Govs to a 5-2 win. However, Murray was upset by No. 6 seed UT Martin in the first round earlier today.
The Govs rolled to a 6-1 win over Belmont to clinch the title, with the Yanes Garcia sisters, Kuppig, Schmidt, and Danielle Morris all claiming singles wins. In addition, the No. 1 doubles team of Honoka Nakanishi and Lopez and No. 2 team of the Yanes Garcia twins both won to extend their doubles win streaks.
Nakanishi and Lopez have won a record 12 matches in a row, while the Yanes Garcias are slightly behind with an 11-match win streak. Kuppig also rides a 16-match win streak in singles into the tournament, which is tied for third all-time (L. Yanes Garcia).
About the Southeast Missouri Redhawks
The Southeast Missouri Redhawks (12-9, 4-4 OVC) earned the No. 5 seed in the tournament and upset No. 4 seeded Belmont, 4-1. The Redhawks also boast the OVC Freshman of the Year in Romana Tarajova, who went 12-5 and 5-3 in OVC singles play, all at the No. 1 spot.
Claudia Yanes Garcia defeated Tarajova, 7-5, 7-5, in the first meeting between the two schools this season. Manuela Barriga has also been in fine form for the Redhawks. She has partnered with Tarajova for a 9-4 and 4-1 OVC doubles record, while winning her last five singles matches at the No. 6 spot.
Speaking of that first meeting, the Govs ran away with a 7-0 victory in Clarksville. The Govs needed a tiebreak win from the Yanes Garcias to win the doubles point, but then won all but one singles match in straight sets.
@AustinPeayWTN on Twitter will provide live match updates throughout the contest.
