BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s and women’s tennis teams were predicted to win their respective 2010 Ohio Valley Conference tennis titles in a poll of the league’s head coaches Friday. Meanwhile, four EKU men and two women were a part of the 2010 OVC top-10 player rankings.
The Eastern Kentucky men’s team captured its first OVC regular-season title last year before finishing second to Jacksonville State at the league tournament. The Colonels’ second place finish at the tourney marks their highest finish since accomplishing the same feat in 1983.
Junior
Alex Das Izquierdo was rated the top overall male player in the OVC in the preseason rankings. The junior from Valencia, Spain earned first team All-OVC accolades last year after compiling a 22-14 overall mark and going 6-1 in the OVC. Sophomores
Hugo Klientovsky (No. 6),
Niklas Schroeder (No. 7) and
Parul Verma (No. 8) were also listed among the preseason top-10 league players.
The Eastern Kentucky women’s squad advanced to the 2009 NCAA tournament after capturing its first OVC regular-season and tournament title last season. The Colonels have advanced to the OVC championship match each of the last two years.
Juniors
Myriem Mhirit (No. 1) and
Anouk Faure (No. 3) were rated as two of the top three OVC players entering this spring. Mhirit, a native of Rabat, Morocco, went 31-6 overall while going 8-1 in the OVC last season. Faure, a native of Versoix, Switzerland, went undefeated in OVC play with a 9-0 record while compiling a 25-9 overall mark in 2009.
2010 OVC Men’s Tennis Predicted Order of Finish
1. Eastern Kentucky (5 first-place votes) - 47
2. Jacksonville State (2) - 44
3. Tennessee Tech (1) - 36
4. Murray State - 27
5. Morehead State - 24
6. Austin Peay - 20
7. Eastern Illinois - 19
8. Tennessee State - 7
2010 OVC Women’s Tennis Predicted Order of Finish
1. Eastern Kentucky (4 first-place votes) - 74
2. Jacksonville State (2) - 69
3. Murray State (1) - 63
4. UT Martin (2) - 62
5. Tennessee Tech (1) - 49
6. Eastern Illinois - 36
7. Austin Peay - 34
8. Morehead State - 33
9. Southeast Missouri - 21
10. Tennessee State - 9
(as voted on by the league's head coaches)