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RICHMOND, Ky. – The 2009 Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Championships begin Friday, April 17 with both Eastern Kentucky University teams in the mix for the league titles. Murray State plays host for the three-day event (April 17-19) which will be held in Paducah, Ky.

The Eastern Kentucky women (20-5, 9-0 OVC) reached the 20-win plateau in the regular season finale on April 11 against Austin Peay. Seniors Alexandra Sitnikova (No. 1), a candidate for OVC Player of the Year honors, and Svetlana Pimenova (No. 2) give EKU a very reliable one-two punch at the top of the line-up. Sophomore Myriem Mhirit (No. 3) posted the best singles record of any Colonel this spring by going 20-4 overall. Fellow sophomore Anouk Faure (No. 5) won all nine of her league singles matches in straight sets.

The Colonel women advanced to the OVC championship match for the first time in program history last season. As the No. 1 seed this year, Eastern has a bye in the opening round and will face the winner of No. 4 Jacksonville State and No. 5 Tennessee Tech in the semifinal round on Saturday.

On the men’s side, Eastern Kentucky (17-8, 8-0) also made it through the conference schedule unblemished. The Colonels were involved in two tight matches against Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech, but will not have to face either one of those squads until the finals. Doubles has been a surprising strength for EKU as the Maroons earned the doubles point in all eight OVC matches.

Sophomore Alex Das Izquierdo (No. 1), the 2008 OVC Freshman of the Year, has put together another solid record at the top of the line-up going 16-8 overall and 6-1 against OVC foes. Four of the remaining five spots in the starting line-up are filled by freshmen – Carlos Valdenebro (No. 2), Niklas Schroeder (No. 4), Parul Verma (No. 5) and Carles Pons Escanilla (No. 6).

The No. 1 seed Colonels have a bye in the opening round and will face the winner of No. 4 Murray State and No. 5 Morehead State in the semifinals Saturday afternoon.

The winners of the OVC tournament receive an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA tournament which begins on May 8.