Middle Tennessee women’s tennis (6-14, CUSA 1-6) closed out its regular season and celebrated senior day with a 5-2 victory over Eastern Kentucky University (10-13).
Four MTSU seniors were celebrated: Karen Yibirin, Cara Szilasi, Zenn Lim, and Rutuja Chaphalkar.
Chaphalkar won her doubles match on senior day, partnering with teammate Zora Koenig. Lim won both of her matches on Saturday, in doubles and singles play. Szilasi lost her final regular-season doubles match in a close battle.
“As a coach you see them grow into mature people and sometimes you just feel sad that they’re gone it’s like losing a family member,” Bailey-Duval said.“But then I tell myself this is what I want, I want them to have a great experience here and move on to bigger and better things, and for us to prepare them for the next stage in their lives, so I’m happy that they’re graduating.”
MTSU took the doubles point, winning two of three courts in tightly contested matches. MTSU’s pairing of Sadbaroy Kholdarova and Zora Koenig fell to Mariia Fedenko and Ceylin Ipek of EKU 6-4. Rutuja Chaphalkar and Sthefany Rodrigues De Lima battled from two points down in the final two games to win 7-5 over Sasha Parkhomenko and Zhansaya Bakhytzhan.
Lena Peyer and Lim closed with a 7-5 win in their match against Izem Olcer and Marilou Cote to give MTSU a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
“We couldn’t let our nerves take over us,” Lim said. “Today we came out on top. We were the stronger ones, the braver ones, and I’m glad me and Lena were able to win the match and get the point for our team.”
De Lima scored the first point for MTSU in singles play, winning her match over Ceylin Ipek in straight sets, both 6-1. Five of the six singles matches were won in straight sets, including Peyer clinching the match in straight sets over Parkhomenko, winning both sets 7-6 and the tie-breaking points 9-7 and 8-6. The only senior playing in singles, Lim had the only match go to three sets, winning 6-2, 4-6, 5-3 over Bakytzhan. The final set was called due to an injury to Bakytzhan.
“Winning those two matches gave me a lot of confidence going into the conference tournament,” Lim said. “I think this win for the team is going to help us going into the tournament. I think with this win, we will be a lot braver and more confident in our shots. My time here at MTSU has been incredible and we’re going into the conference tournament aiming to win our first conference championship.”
MTSU women’s tennis prepares for the Conference USA tournament beginning on Wednesday, April 15. Middle Tennessee hosts the CUSA women’s tennis tournament from April 15 to April 18 at the outdoor tennis facility.
To contact the sports editor, email [email protected].
Follow Sidelines on Facebook at Facebook.com/MTSUSidelines, on X @mtsusidelines and Instagram @mtsusidelines. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
