Aces Tennis splits matches against Murray State and Austin Peay

UE earns 4-3 win over Racers in opener

 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In the first home matches of the spring season, the University of Evansville women’s tennis team earned a split on the day, defeating Murray State by a 4-3 final before falling to Austin Peay by a 4-3 score in the evening match at Tri-State Athletic Club.

UE opened the day with a 4-3 win over Murray State.  After the Racers earned the doubles points, the Aces rallied back with four singles triumphs to win the match.  Diana Tkachenko got the job done at #2 singles, defeating Sara Loncarevis, 6-0, 6-1.  Evansville also took flights 4-6, starting with Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga.  She topped Alina Schibol, 6-3, 6-3.  Theodora Soldatou was victorious over Jeanne Masson, 6-4, 6-0 while Andjela Brguljan won in a third set tiebreaker.  She defeated Sara Bjork, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 to clinch the decisive point.

“Despite this being our first home match who came out a little flat and weren’t ready to play for the doubles. Murray did a great job of taking advantage to build early leads at both 1 and 3 doubles,” UE head coach Jayson Wiseman said.  “Our team showed a ton of heart to come back and win for singles matches. I’m very proud of all of them for the way they fought the last one on every court, even the losses we had in singles were good losses. Our senior leader Andjela Brguljan did a great job of stepping up and closing out the match in a 3rd set tiebreaker. We’re very pleased with the win.”

Austin Peay completed the day with a 4-3 win over the Purple Aces.  After clinching the doubles point, the Governors earned wins in flights 1, 3 and 6 to win the match.  The Aces earned three singles wins.  Tkachenko defeated Claudia Yanes Garcia, 6-4, 6-0 to go undefeated on the day at #2 singles.  Pascual-Larrinaga was also undefeated in singles play on Friday.  She topped Brittney Covington in flight five, 6-0, 6-2.

Daria Pentsova took the other win for UE in the fourth flight, topping Ana Albertson, 6-3, 6-2.

“Our team did a great job of battling on every Court I just wasn’t enough today to take down a very tough APSU,” Wiseman added.  “Their team came ready to play and every time that look like we’re about to take a lead, they came charging back to even the match and eventually were able to clinch it with a three set match at number three singles.  We made it tough on ourselves by not taking the doubles, so that is something we’ll need to clean up and get better before we take on IU on Sunday. Overall it was a great day of tennis and it was good to get our first win of the season.”

On Sunday, the Aces head to Bloomington to face Indiana University.  The match will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET.