APSU Women’s Tennis loses at Murray State, 4-3

Calloway County, KY – Senior Danielle Morris became the first player in Austin Peay State University (APSU) women’s tennis history with a winning record across all six singles and three doubles positions in a career during the Governors 4-3 Ohio Valley Conference loss against Murray State, Saturday, at the Bennie Purcell Tennis Courts. 

Morris entered Saturday’s match needing just one more win from the No. 4 position to break the record and did such with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the Racers’ Natalie Slezakova. 
 
The Queensland, Australia native now holds a 1-0, 17-9, 1-0, 2-1, 9-2, 11-1 record from the No. 1-6 singles positions, respectively, with an 18-7, 5-2, 10-3 mark across each of the doubles lines.
 
Austin Peay (10-6, 6-1 OVC) grabbed the early doubles advantage in Saturday’s match against the Racers (11-9, 4-3 OVC), with Aleks Topalovic and Yu-Hua Cheng earning their fourth win of the spring in a 6-1 victory from the No. 3 doubles court.

APSU was not able to sustain the momentum, however, falling from the No. 1 and No. 2 positions and falling in doubles for the first time 50 days.

Austin Peay State University trailed 3-1 midway through singles play, with losses on the No. 1 and No. 5 courts, in addition to Morris’ record-breaking victory from the No. 4. 

Continuing to shine from the No. 6 position, Cheng cut into the Racers’ lead with her 10th victory of the season against MSU’s Jordi Font Montero, before Jana Leder came back in her second set to win, 7-2 in the tiebreaker and even the match at three.

After narrowly winning her first set from the No. 3 position, Martina Paladini-Jennings dropped her second and third sets in what is just the senior’s second conference loss of the season.

Results vs. Racers 

Doubles

1. Stasya Sharapova / Natalie Slezakova (MSU) def. Denise Torrealba / Honoka Nakanishi (APSU), 6-4
2. Annika Pschorr / Sarah Bureau (MSU) def. Danielle Morris / Jana Leder (APSU), 6-2
3. Aleks Topalovic / Yu-Hua Cheng (APSU) def. Gabrielle Geolier / Jordi Font Montero (MSU), 6-1

Singles

1. Stasya Sharapova (MSU) def. Denise Torrealba (APSU), 6-4, 6-3
2. Jana Leder (APSU) def. Sarah Bureau (MSU), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
3. Annika Pschorr (MSU) def. Martina Paladini-Jennings (APSU), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-1
4. Danielle Morris (APSU) def. Natalie Slezakova (APSU), 6-3, 6-4
5. Gabrielle Geolier (MSU) def. Aleks Topalovic (APSU), 7-5, 6-4
6. Yu-Hua Cheng (APSU) def. Jordi Font Montero (MSU), 7-5, 6-3

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Next Up For APSU Women’s Tennis

Despite the loss, the Austin Peay State University women’s tennis team still enters the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Receiving a first-round bye in the tournament, the Govs will play the winner of SIU Edwardsville and the MSU’s match at 10:00am, Saturday, April 30th at the Wesselmann Tennis Center in Evansville, Indiana.