Mizzou tennis went 3-1 across Feb. 20-22, beating the Morgan State Bears, the Murray State Racers and Tennessee State Tigers before losing to the preseason No. 18-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on the road.
The first match, against Morgan State, followed the same trend as the matches of prior weeks: Tiger domination. Senior Andrea Artimedi and sophomore Gian Octa started the day with a 6-1 victory over their opponents. Freshman Alex Ackman and sophomore Korina Roso made similar work of their opponents, winning their doubles match 6-2. The final doubles match against Morgan State went unfinished, with freshman Lara Quaglia and sophomore Zoe Lazar up 5-4 by the time the other matches had finished.
The singles followed suit, with three matches going unfinished. Octa was the first to finish, winning her sets 6-1, 6-2, followed by Roso winning 6-1, 6-3. Singles ended with Lazar winning 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. Ackman, Artimedi and Quaglia’s matches all went unfinished.
The Tigers had a short-lived rest before returning to the Mizzou Tennis Complex to face off against the Murray State Racers.
Doubles proved to be more challenging than in the matches prior, yet Mizzou still won the first two, leaving the third unfinished once again. Lazar and Quaglia started the action by beating their opponents 6-2. Artimedi and Octa then pulled off a 7-5 victory over the Racers. Ackman and Roso’s match went unfinished.
The Tigers went on to make easy work of the Racers in singles. Artimedi set the tone early, winning her match 6-0, 6-0, followed by Roso, who won 6-0, 6-2. Octa won 6-1, 6-1, and Ackman won her matches 6-0, 6-3.
The Tigers then saw their first loss of the day with Quaglia losing 7-5, 6-1. However, Lazar reasserted Tiger dominance, winning the final match of the day 6-2, 6-3.
The Tigers had a day’s rest before heading down to Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday to face off against the preseason No. 18-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores and Tennessee State Tigers.
Vanderbilt and Mizzou’s tennis historyis one of one-sided domination. Mizzou hasn’t beaten the Commodores since 1981, and Vanderbilt entered with a 12-game winning streak coming into the match.
The day started with doubles, where Lazar and Quaglia lost 6-4 against Valeria Ray, Vanderbilt’s former All-Southeastern Conference second team player, and senior Bridget Stammel. Artimedi and Octa then lost 6-2, with Ackman and Roso’s match going unfinished.
The Tigers were seemingly outmatched in singles as well, playing against three nationally ranked players. Artimedi grinded out a win for the Tigers in a grueling match that went to a third-set tiebreaker, winning 12-10 over Vanderbilt sophomore Trinetra Vijayakumar. Mizzou lost the five remaining matches, falling 5-1.
The loss was short-lived, as the Tigers rattled off a sweep in singles and doubles against Tennessee State shortly after. Ackman and Roso won their match 6-1, followed by Lazar and Quaglia winning 6-2. Artimedi and Octa’s match went unfinished.
Singles followed suit, with Lazar sweeping her opponent 6-0, 6-0, as did Quaglia, who similarly won hers. Octa finished third with a 6-0, 6-1 victory, followed by Ackman winning her match 6-0, 6-2. Roso and Artimedi went on to not play their matches as the Tigers clinched a 5-0 victory in the Tiger-on-Tiger matchup.
The black and gold head to Chicago on Tuesday, Feb. 24, to face off against the DePaul Blue Demons.
