Women's Tennis Opens Play at Home

The Blue Raiders opened the season last weekend against Tennessee and Ole Miss and will look to rebound from the losses with wins on Friday and Saturday.

"We are really excited. I know we took a couple of losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss but we played well. When I go here two years ago we could keep a couple of balls in the court and last year we were keeping balls in the court but not playing good tennis," head coach Alison Ojeda said. This year when we started they played really smart tennis. We were just making errors but that is alright.

Junior Marlene Chemin posted the Blue Raiders only singles win against Ole Miss and will help lead Middle Tennessee this weekend. In doubles, action senior Claudia Szabo and freshman Shannon Hartmann paired up to defeat the Rebels and will use that momentum against Tennessee Tech and Purdue.

Middle Tennessee will play Tennessee Tech on Friday, Jan. 25 at 12 p.m. at the Racquet Club in Murfreesboro.

It will be Tennessee Tech's first match of the 2008 season when the Eagles travel to Murfreesboro on Friday.

"The girls are looking better and I think we are ready to play Tennessee Tech. they are a good team but I think the girls will have a little more expectation on them tomorrow than they did last weekend," Ojeda said. "We just expect more out of them now. They have worked hard and deserve to do well."

Then on Saturday, Jan. 26 the Blue Raiders will face Purdue at 10 a.m.

Purdue seniors Cigdem Duru and Brooke Beier led the Boilermakers in the Virginia Team Invitational a week ago as the duo won the flight A doubles title. The pair beat doubles teams from Wake Forest and Virginia on their way to the win. In singles action, Purdue's Stephanie Wooten finished second in flight B singles while Joanna Craven was the runner-up in flight C.

"We are looking forward to the match tomorrow and then Purdue on Saturday. Purdue is a good team but we don't really know a whole lot about them. I think playing Purdue is going to let us know where we stand," Ojeda said.

Admission to all matches at the Racquet Club is free.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter @MTAthletics for continued updates.