Middle Tennessee women’s tennis (1-2) won its 2025 home opener on Friday night, defeating the Louisville Cardinals (1-1), by a score of 4-1.
The Blue Raiders returned to Murfreesboro and the Adams Tennis Complex after an unsuccessful trip to Fort Myers, Florida, where they dropped the first two matches of the season against Florida Gulf Coast and Minnesota.
“It was amazing, with everyone supporting and it feels like home,” Truden said.
Middle Tennessee began the night with a 1-0 lead, due to a depleted Louisville lineup that was unable to fill all six of the singles slots due to illness.
The Cardinals’ forfeiture led to only five singles matches and two doubles matches being played for points, instead of a typical match that features six and three.
Middle Tennessee swept the doubles portion, with the match on court three being a forfeit along with a 6-2 win for the duo of Alessia Truden and Rutuja Chaphalkar over Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila of Louisville. This victory allowed the grouping of Truden and Chaphalkar to remain undefeated thus far, pushing them to three wins on the season.
Court two also saw success for MTSU in doubles, as Ilaria Sposetti and Cassidy Mataia held a 5-2 lead prior to a stoppage in play due to the court one victory.
“It [Louisville’s forfeit] gave us confidence,” Sposetti said. “We got the doubles point and we were already two points ahead.”
The Blue Raiders’ dominance continued into the singles portion of the match, with Truden and Sposetti leading the charge to secure the victory for Middle Tennessee.
“Being the one clinching isn’t an easy thing, and they carried themselves very good,” MTSU assistant coach Micaela Ode Mitre said. “The points they needed to win, they stepped up, they did it, and they got the win.”
On court two, Sposetti got the best of Elena Noguero, winning by a score of 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to earn the team’s third point of the home opener.
Truden defeated Louisville’s Otis on court one in three hard fought sets. The MTSU graduate student stayed charged up throughout the match, yelling triumphantly after scoring points in her favor.
“I lost to her [Otis] in the fall, and it was a three-set match,” Truden said. “I just told myself and everyone that I wasn’t going to lose to her again, and I knew how important it was to win that match. I was really hyped about it.”
The rest of the singles action included unfinished matches on courts four and five. Mataia and Germany Davis were in the third set on court four, while MTSU’s Zenn Lim was in the second set with Iila.
Louisville found their lone point of the match from Allie Gretkowski, who swept Lena Peyer 6-3, 6-3.
Middle Tennessee will look to build on their home success, as they face Chattanooga at the ATC on Jan. 26.
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