Morehead State def. SIUE 4-0 Box Score
Austin Peay def. Eastern Illinois 4-3 Box Score
On Thursday, Morehead State and Austin Peay both won their first round matches to advance to the semifinals of the 2014 OVC Men’s Tennis Championship. #5 seed Morehead State defeated #4 seed SIUE 4-0, while #3 seed Austin Peay defeated #6 seed Eastern Illinois 4-3.
The Eagles, who had lost a close contest to SIUE during the regular season, avenged their loss by defeating the Cougars in convincing fashion in the first round of the tournament. Morehead State’s No. 1 doubles duo of Jack Swindells and Ji Hoon Heo defeated SIUE’s Stephen Washuta and Nico Kuehn 8-4. At No. 3 doubles, Morehead State’s Giovanni Samaha and Gabriel Ruiz beat SIUE’s Nicolas Vincent and Jacob Tanulanond, to take the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.
Morehead State clinched the match after wins at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5 singles. Jack Swindells defeated Nicolas Vincent at No. 1 singles (6-4, 6-2), while Giovanni Samaha beat Matthew Hutchinson of SIUE 6-3, 6-3. At No. 5 singles, Morehead State’s David Clifford defeated SIUE’s Jacob Tanulanond 6-4, 6-3 to close out the match.
Austin Peay won a close battle against Eastern Illinois for it’s second win over the Panthers this season. Austin Peay jumped out in front after clinching the doubles point by winning at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. The doubles duo of Jasmin Ademovic and Aleksas Tverijonas of Austin Peay defeated Eastern Illinois’ Robert Skolik and Kevin Bauman, 8-4. At No. 3 doubles, Austin Peay’s James Mitchell and Manuel Montenegro beat Moritz Kandt and Grant Thompson of Eastern Illinois, 8-4.
In singles action, Austin Peay won all the matches at the top three spots of the lineup while Eastern Illinois took the bottom three matches of the lineup. At No. 1 singles, Jasmin Ademovic won 6-0, 6-0 and Dimitar Ristovski won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Eastern Illinois then started a comeback as Robert Skolik won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles and Kevin Bauman won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles. Rui Silva of Eastern Illinois also won 7-5, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. The match came down to No. 3 singles when Austin Peay clinched the match as Aleksas Tverijonas defeated Eastern Illinois’ Ryan Henderson, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
In the semifinals, Morehead State will take on #1 seed Jacksonville State while Austin Peay will face #2 seed Belmont. The OVC Men’s Tennis Championship semifinals will start tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. CST at the Larry J. Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky.