April 2, 2008

Match Notes

By Brett Maikowski, Tennis Contact

THIS WEEK: The Southeast tennis team (5-8, 2-3 OVC) will go up against three conference opponents at home this weekend. First, SEMO will play Jacksonville State (7-9, 4-1 OVC) on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. Continuing on Saturday, Southeast will take on Tennessee Tech (4-13, 1-4 OVC) at 12 p.m. Finishing up the weekend on Sunday, Southeast will compete against Samford (11-5, 3-0) beginning at 1 p.m.

SCOUTING SOUTHEAST: The Redhawks are led by senior Bryce Kristal at the No. 1 singles spot, who is on a seven-match winning streak and is 10-3 overall, while posting a perfect 5-0 record in OVC play. In doubles play, Kelly and junior Julia Masotti share the team lead in wins with the Kristals as both pairs are 8-5 overall and hold an impressive OVC record of 4-1.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS: The Gamecocks are led by two freshmen from Brazil playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. First is Viviane Marani and second is Martina Dessbessell. Both girls hold a 9-7 record on the year with a 4-1 OVC mark and are currently on three-match winning streaks.

SERIES HISTORY: The overall series is currently tied at two matches apiece, with the last meeting resulting in a 4-3 win for SEMO last season. Both Kristals, Masotti, and Nattier all won their singles matches in that meeting.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: The Golden Eagles are also led by two freshmen, Kelly Holtzhausen and Mireia Cano. Holtzhausen competes in No. 1 singles, posts a 7-9 record overall, and is 2-3 in the OVC. Cano is even at 8-8 for the year in the No. 2 slot and also holds a 2-3 record in the OVC. Both girls also lost their last match at home against Jacksonville State on March 29.

SERIES HISTORY: Tennessee Tech currently leads the overall series at 9-4, although Southeast won the latest match last seasonby a score of 4-3. B. Kristal and Nattier were the only two girls winning their matches against TTU last year.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Leading the Bulldogs in wins so far this year is freshman Anrie Meiring, who is 14-3 overall with an undefeated 3-0 mark in OVC play. She has played in No. 2 through No. 5 singles this year and remains undefeated in all of them except in the No. 2 spot. In doubles, the freshmen team of Taylor Morgan and Lindsey Mallory holds a team-leading 13-3 mark on the year with a perfect 3-0 record in the OVC at the No. 2 slot.

SERIES HISTORY: The Samford Bulldogs lead the series over Southeast at 3-0. Last season, the Bulldogs took down the Redhawks by a score of 5-2 on March 3. B. Kristal and Nattier were the Redhawks earning the two points in the match.

UP NEXT: Following this weekend, Southeast will travel to Little Rock to compete against Arkansas-Little Rock and Louisiana-Monroe next Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. On Saturday, they will hit the road and head to Tennessee to compete against UT-Martin. Finally, they will close out the regular season at home against Eastern Illinois on Sunday at 2 p.m.