Story by Adam Redfern
Staff writer
aredfern@murraystate.edu
With the conclusion of the Murray State Invitational, the Racers capped off their fall season and will now set their sights on the spring season.
The season started off with sophomore Stasya Sharapova reaching the semifinals in Flight A of the Austin Peay Invitational, ending the tournament with a 3-1 record overall.
Junior Sara Loncarevic and senior Amina Hadzic finished as runners-up in doubles for Flight B. Loncarevic was a semifinalist in singles for Flight B as well.
Head Coach Jorge Caetano has constantly expressed he feels the most important thing for this Racer tennis team is to be mentally tough and fight for every point. Caetano said he feels his team has used this fall season to improve on these things and is excited to see his team execute in the spring.
“I think it was just being mentally tough and being independent on the court,” Caetano said. “They were battling for every point. It didn’t matter if they were playing good or bad, they were always competitive.”
Caetano also praised his team on their conditioning and toughness this fall. The team has played in three fall tournaments, and on average every player on the team plays three to four games per day for two consecutive days.
“Falls are always tough and very, very physical,” Caetano said. “The tournaments you play three or four matches in the same day and you have to be in good shape. The improvement that I could see was in the mental aspect, in being competitive no matter what the condition was.”
Sharapova discussed how the fall season is a time she can look to play at her own pace and build confidence heading into the regular season.
“I started pretty well in Austin Peay,” Sharapova said. “In the middle was decent, and I finished very strong this season. I became pretty confident this fall. Also when I went into a match, I didn’t really go for it. Now I just go for every ball, and I’m not scared to hit my shots.”
Loncarevic said she used the fall season to become a better player in tough situations while improving her net game for doubles.
“I started this fall season pretty good at the Austin Peay tournament, and this tournament (MSU Invitational) as well,” Loncarevic said. “I think I improved mentally; I am more calm and I know what to do in important situations. I improved a lot this season at the net as well.”
With the fall season under wraps, Caetano has already located several areas he would like his team to work on in order to improve for the spring season.
“First [area] is health; we have to make sure that everyone is healthy, because that is going to play a big part in our season,” Caetano said. “Then it would be doubles; I think the doubles team needs a little more consistency. We can play some really good doubles, but sometimes in the first 10 to 15 minutes we are not there, and when we try to catch up to the other team it’s too late.”
The team will look to begin their spring season in January 2019 when they will look to have the same success they had last year when they finished second in the OVC regular season and had three players finish with All-OVC awards.