HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women’s tennis team heads into the final weekend of the regular season in search of a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament with three matches on tap.
Southeastern (9-10, 3-5 SLC) will open the weekend’s action on Saturday, facing Sam Houston State (11-7, 6-4 SLC) at 12 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas. On Sunday, Southeastern heads to Beaumont, Texas to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-10, 3-5 SLC) at 1 p.m. in a neutral site match on the Lamar campus.
On Monday, Southeastern closes out its regular season at Stephen F. Austin (5-15, 3-7 SLC) at 12 p.m. The match had been scheduled for Friday, but expected inclement weather in Nacogdoches, Texas has necessitated the move to Monday.
The top eight teams in the SLC regular season standings will advance to next week’s Southland Conference Tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas. Southeastern is currently tied for seventh with A&M-Corpus Christi and SFA.
The Lady Lions being in the hunt for a SLC Tournament berth in remarkable considering they have played with only five student-athletes for the majority of the season. Southeastern kept its postseason hopes alive with a 5-2 win over McNeese State in Hammond last Saturday. After dropping the doubles point, the Lady Lions rallied with five singles victories to emerge victorious in their regular season home finale.
The Lady Lions are led by senior
Iva Velkovska, who has a 17-2 singles record this spring at the No. 1 position. In her fourth and final season with Southeastern, Velkovska has a 79-13 career dual match singles mark – good for second in school history and four short of the school’s career singles win mark held by former Lady Lions Emilija Arnaudovksa, who was 83-11 in singles play from 2005-08.
Velkovska and freshman
Audrey Chelini (13-6) have given Southeastern a formidable combination at the top of the singles lineup. Freshman
Morgane Dadot (10-9), freshman
Annika Hanke (8-8) and junior
Ashley Longoria (6-13) round out the singles lineup. Velkovska and Chelini have paired for a team-best 10-8 doubles mark.
Sam Houston State is led by the conference’s top singles player Irina Sotnikova, who has a 16-1 singles mark at the No. 1 position. Sotnikova and Peta Taylor have teamed for a 15-3 mark in doubles play.
A&M-Corpus Christi’s Alexandra Dyckman sports a team best 10-5 singles mark and leads the way in singles, along with Mirna Cicak (10-7). Dyckman and Erika Iriarte pace the team with a 6-6 record in doubles action.
Alina Shazkho paces SFA with a 10-6 record in singles play this spring. Shazkho has teamed with Roxana Enica for a team-best 13-6 doubles mark.
First round action of next week’s Southland Conference Tournament begins on Friday.