Southeast Missouri State tennis teams sweeps WIU for highest win total since 2008

The Southeast Missouri State tennis team opened its home schedule Tuesday with its first sweep of singles and doubles play this season.

The Redhawks improved to 6-5 overall, defeating Western Illinois University 7-0. Southeast has won back-to-back matches for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

WIU fell to 0-9.

"Right now everyone's confidence is up, but we need to keep building that confidence," first-year coach Leah Hottois said. "Once they start winning more matches they will have more confidence, but today I was proud of how my young ladies played the wind and didn't let it bother them and stayed focused."

The freshman duo of Valeriia Kashina and Ekatrina Donetckova, the Redhawks' No. 1 doubles team, won five straight games before dropping a game to UWI. They were leading 7-1 when play was stopped after the other two Redhawks doubles teams posted 8-0 sweeps to secure the doubles point.

Southeast Missouri State’s Ekaterina Donetckova competes in her doubles set with partner Valeriia Kashina during Tuesday’s match against Western Illinois’ Jenna Wallace and Nicole Jones.

The freshman tandem of Annisa Warasanti and Valeriia Nagovitcina improved to a team-best 7-5 in doubles play with a sweep at the No. 3 spot, while the veteran No. 2 duo of Melissa Martin and Heather Robinson did not surrender a point over the final three games of their sweep. The win was the second straight for the pair, which improved to 5-4.

Martin also excelled at No. 6 singles, where the junior extended her winning streak to four matches. She remained tied for second on the team for singles wins after recording her sixth victory, which came in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-0.

Kashina, Southeast's top-ranked player, won her third straight singles match. She won the first two games against WIU's Jenna Wallace, but dropped the next three.

Kashina said she struggled with consistency and had to refocus midway through her first set.

"I don't like to lose," Kashina said. "So it's pretty good motivation to give up [games] like that and then fight back, plus my coach helped a lot and I refocused enough to where I could go out to finish my set."

Delighted Southeast Missouri State coach Leah Hottois walks off the court after congratulating Valeriia Nagovitcina and Annisa Warasanti on their 8-0 doubles win over Western Illinois’ Ese Davis and Melissa Alger.

Kashina won the next four games and the set 6-3.

In her second set, Kashina led 4-3 before winning the final two games for a 6-3 win.

The other five Redhawks won their matches handily. Donetckova, playing at No. 3, was the first to finish her match. She did not surrender a single game, winning 6-0, 6-0.

Waransanti also won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles, while No. 2 Nogavitcina, No. 5 Martin and No. 6 Katy Brady all won their second set 6-0 to complete sweeps.

"I want my young ladies to start playing every match with the intensity and going out there to win like they did today," Hottois said. "In practice we've been working on being aggressive, trying to stay focused and being consistent, which we then try to bring out to the matches. So for us to keep that up, it's going to be a challenge but also a boost for this program."

The Redhawks already have two more wins than a year ago when they finished 4-11 and more wins than any Southeast team since 2008. The Redhawks, who have not made it to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament since 2007 under former coach Mark Elliot, are looking to change the culture of Redhawks tennis.

Brady, Martin, and Robinson are Southeast's only returning players from last year's team. They said their new teammates are bringing something new to the program.

"We feel really good right now," Martin said about her team's performance so far this season. "It's different for us because we're used to not being this good, so it's a really good feeling and I think we can only continue to get better."

Hottois has implemented a practice routine that has players working on being more aggressive, finding consistency and concentrating on the service game, then bringing those elements into matches.

Kashina said she sees the team's talent progressing every day.

"It means a lot for school in general to be where we're at," Kashina said. "I know we're all talented people and we need to keep that talent level of play up so we can get the middle or top of our conference."

Southeast will begin OVC conference play at Belmont on Saturday.

Singles

No. 1 -- Valeriia Kashina def. Jenna Wallace 6-3, 6-3

No. 2 -- Valeriia Nagovitcina def. Nicole Jones (UWI), 6-2, 6-0

No. 3 -- Ekaterina Donetckova def. Jessica Callahan (UWI) 6-0, 6-0

No. 4 -- Annisa Warasanti def. Andriana Johnson (UWI) 6-0, 6-0

No. 5 -- Melissa Martin def. Ese Davis (UWI) 6-2, 6-0

No. 6 -- Katy Brady def. Jamee Hale (UWI) 7-6, 6-0

Doubles

No. 1 -- Kashina-Donetckova def. Wallace-Jones (UWI) 8-1

No. 2 -- Martin-Robinson def. Callahan-Johnson (UWI) 8-0

No. 3 -- Warasanti-Nagovitcina def. Davis Alger (UWI) 8-0