SIUE (13-2, 1-1 OVC) at Murray State (8-7, 1-1 OVC) // at Austin Peay (5-5, 1-0 OVC)
Match 16: Murray State	Saturday, April 9 // 12 p.m. CT // Murray, Ky.
Match 17: Austin Peay	Sunday, April 10 // 11 a.m. CT // Clarksville, Tenn.
Opponent Info	Murray State | Austin Peay
Live Stats	Match 16 | Match 17
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LAST TIME OUT
The Cougars opened up Ohio Valley Conference play with a convincing 5-2 home win on March 25, before heading to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for a Tuesday afternoon fixture against pre-season favorite Southeast Missouri. SIUE and the Redhawks battled for all six singles matches and all three doubles contests, but it would be the Redhawks who would take the win by the narrowest of margins. 

TRIPLE DOUBLES
SIUE's potent doubles play was recognized as the best in the Ohio Valley Conference for two consecutive weeks to start the season, as Caitlyn Sporing and Melissa Vizcardo's impressive efforts garnered the duo's first OVC Doubles Team of the Week honors for the week of February 21. This award followed the announcement, which saw Vanessa Reinicke and Jordan Schifano earn Doubles Team of the Week the week prior. And two weeks ago, the team of Jill Lambrechts and Maria Thibault became the third-different SIUE doubles team to claim OVC Doubles Team of the Week honors. The Cougars won three of the first four Doubles Team of the Week honors awarded by the OVC this season, becoming the first program in league history to accomplish the feat.

CONFERENCE CALL
The OVC continues its 45th season of women's tennis this weekend. Southeast Missouri sits atop the league standings at 3-0, followed by Austin Peay at 1-0. Belmont comes in at third position with a 2-1 record in conference play, while SIUE and Murray State are tied in fifth position at 1-1. 

CONSISTENT IMPROVEMENT
Since assuming the helm of the SIUE tennis program, Head Coach Adam Albertsen has seen the Cougars improve at a pace matched by few other programs in Division I tennis. 

Albertsen oversaw a six-win increase during his first season, followed by a three-win improvement in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign. In the 2021 spring season, the Cougars reached double-digit wins for the first time since 2016. And now in his fourth season in Edwardsville, the program has nearly doubled its win total from his first season, reaching 11 wins with eight matches remaining on the Cougars' schedule. 

HISTORY MADE
The Cougars put together their best start in six seasons and their second-best start in the program's Division I era with nine consecutive wins to begin the 2022 season. 

1. 2016-17 (21-0)
2. 2021-22 (9-0)
3. 2020-21 (3-0)
   2011-12 (3-0)