MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Ohio Valley Conference portion of the schedule started with a 4-0 record for Morehead State men's tennis in the month of March. Now the Eagles look to go on a similar stretch to end the month of April with a conference championship.
"This group has overcome so much this season and I'm so proud of how far they have come in such a short period of time," said head coach
Kevin Fulton. "To come out of Nashville with a championship, we have to be mentally stronger than our opponents."
The Eagles will be tested in the opening round as they enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 seed Jacksonville State. The two squads faced off on Apr. 2 with the Gamecocks coming away with the 5-2 victory at the JSU Tennis Complex.
JSU set the tone early as they collected the doubles point, a trend the Eagles know they need to change to get the first round win.
"The doubles point is so important for us starting out," said assistant coach
Van Damrongsri. "When we go out early and set the tone, we build up our confidence and immediately become a very dangerous team."
The junior tandem of
Ritchie Kruunenberg and
Gabriel Ruiz has been a force this season, going undefeated in doubles at 6-0. Beyond the undefeated duo, the rest have been a mystery for Morehead State as the various pairings have gone 6-12 against OVC opponents.
In singles play, Kruunenberg is riding back-to-back wins. He also collected a win against JSU's No. 1 Pedro Wagner, who retired in the second set of their contest.
Leading into the tournament with the longest winning streak is freshman
Ognjen Sunjevaric. He began OVC play at 0-5, but ended the season strong, winning three straight from the No. 5 and No. 6 spots. His last loss came at JSU in a three-set nail-biter against Andres Gomez.
"We can be special," said Fulton. "I believe in this team, but most importantly they believe in themselves."
Their matchup with JSU will be at 11 a.m. ET on Friday at the Centennial Sportsplex Tennis Center in Nashville, Tenn.
