SKYHAWK TENNIS HOLDS THEIR OWN ON THE ROAD AGAINST 13-1 SIUE IN CONFERENCE OPENER

Friday, March 25

Edwardsville, Ill.

1:30 p.m.

UT Martin

SIUE

SKYHAWK TENNIS HOLDS THEIR OWN ON THE ROAD AGAINST 13-1 SIUE IN CONFERENCE OPENER

3/25/2022 11:00:00 PM | Tennis

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Snatching two more singles victories next to another in tag-team competition against an Ohio Valley Conference opponent with only one loss to their resume, the University of Tennessee at Martin tennis squad fought valiantly versus SIUE in the 2022 league opener on Friday afternoon, ultimately taking a 5-2 setback once the Cougars barely managed the overall doubles point in two extremely close decisions.

Bringing their win total to four as a duo this spring, the British tandem of Aziza Aubin and Amelia Campbell outlasted SIUE's Jordan Schifano and Vanessa Reinicke by a 7-6 margin, giving the Skyhawks their 10^th doubles win over the past eight meetings and 22^nd of the year of that nature.

Jillian Niedzialowski and Lia Espinal – who themselves have three wins in the two-on-two format since January – nearly cemented the overall doubles point for the navy and orange, narrowly falling by that same 7-6 clip to give the Cougars the nod in a precarious manner.

To no surprise for those following the Skyhawks this semester, Aubin kept her individual hot streak going against one of the more imposing teams in the OVC, capturing her seventh singles victory in a row over Fabiola Perez (7-6 and 6-4), the junior's eighth W of the semester altogether.

Moving towards her fifth win in one-on-one action, senior Mizuki Sakurai granted UT Martin their second point with a 6-2 (repeated) triumph over Amber Hochstatter, the roster's 37^th singles win over the past two months.

Additionally, both Niedzialowski and Jule Streif battled right down to the wire versus Nicole Gomez and Schifano respectively, with the former even grabbing an opening-set W by a 7-5 clip before barely dropping the third rally by a 10-8 edge. Elsewhere, Streif inched dangerously close to knocking off Schifano in back-to-back 7-5 results that helped SIUE take the ultra-close win.

With one match out of seven against Ohio Valley Conference teams now gone, the Skyhawks will prepare for the second round of their road trip across the Prairie State in less than 24 hours, facing Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 2:00. Pushed back one hour due to inadequate weather conditions, both parties will now meet at a neutral site in Champaign to mark the final date in UTM's four-game week.