Story by Adam Redfern, Contributing writer
Despite a semifinal exit in this year’s OVC tournament, Murray State women’s tennis team had a season to be remembered.
This regular season marked the 10th time that the Racers have finished second overall in the OVC at a (14-8, 8-1) mark. The only regular season loss this year was to the undefeated Eastern Kentucky University, and Murray State was bounced by the Governors in the semifinals of the OVC tournament.
With the season over, the Racers collected some recognition from the OVC. Sophomore Claire Chang from Kaohsiung, Taiwan was named to the All-OVC first team. Chang played as the No. 1 singles player in every game this year, owning a record of 13-6 (6-2).
Freshman Aarja Chakraborty from Gautam Budh Nagar, India and freshman Stasya Sharapova from Astana, Kazakhstan were also awarded a spot on the All-OVC second team.
Chakraborty saw action in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. When playing in the No. 2 position, she had a 1-1 record, and in the No. 3 spot she had a 10-6 (7-2). Sharapova played in three different positions on the team, but she saw most of her action in the No. 2 spot where she went 9-10 and recorded an overall record of 12-7 (5-4).
The team was saddened by their early loss in the tournament, but Caetano said he is excited for the future.
“It’s very exciting for next year,” Caetano said. “We are still young, we only have two juniors on the team and they are going to be seniors next year. I think for the next two or three years we are going to have a solid foundation, I am looking forward to that. The experience we have this year is going to count a lot next year, the freshmen are going to have more experience and they are playing the top positions for us.”
The Racer tennis team is among one of the younger teams in the OVC with two freshman, four sophomores and two juniors. Caetano was glad to get some tournament experience as a team that was expected to win and hopes this can translate to future success.
“We feel like we lacked the tournament experience, going as one of the favorites,” Caetano said. “I think this is going to be huge for us next year. This whole year we were just trying to win matches and get more and more confident as a team, and we were able to accomplish that. I think next year is going to be all about knowing we are good and we can compete for the championship, and handling that pressure of being one of the favorites.”