MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State men's tennis team will be the fifth seed in this week's Ohio Valley Conference Championship tournament. The Eagles will be facing fourth seed Murray State on Friday at 3 p.m. EST. The tournament is being held in Paducah, Ky., at the Larry Heflin Tennis Center with Murray State and the OVC serving as hosts.
"Our guys have worked hard to make it into the OVC championship. We are looking forward to competing at the highest level, and if we can together play as a team, I think we have an excellent chance at winning the championship," said head coach Kevin Fulton.
The Eagles are making an appearance in the OVC championship for the first time since 2005. In the other quarterfinal match for the men Friday, number three Tennessee Tech will battle number six Eastern Illinois.
Eastern Kentucky's men and women both earned the number one seeds for the tournament by virtue of posting perfect 8-0 conference dual match records. The EKU teams will earn a bye into the second round. UT martin's women were the second seed on the women's side, while Jacksonville State took the second seed for the men, and both those squads will also receive byes on Friday. The Eagles will face EKU in the semifinals Saturday at 3 p.m. EST if they advance past Murray State in the opening round.
Murray State narrowly defeated the Eagles, 4-3, on March 27 in Murray. The Racers won two of the three doubles matches to take that point, and the teams split the six singles matches. In doubles, the number three Eagle tandem of Lovell Medcalf and Nathan Blum won 8-5.
In singles, Greg Anderson won in straight sets at number one for the Eagles, while Bradley Bryan did the same at number three. On the sixth court, Blum took a three-set victory.
Against EKU on April 7 in Morehead, the Eagles fell 5-2. Anderson and Bradley each picked up singles victories over the Colonels, who went on to remain undefeated in conference play.
