MURRAY, Ky.  -  SIUE tennis returned to its winning ways in convincing fashion on Saturday afternoon, as the Cougars earned a 7-0 shutout victory at Murray State in Ohio Valley Conference action.

How It Happened

• The Cougars opened up the contest with a pair of impressive showings in doubles - the team of Vanessa Reinicke and Jordan Schifano notched a 6-2 win on the No. 2 court to start off the match, before the team of Jill Lambrechts and Maria Thibault earned a 6-3 win on the No. 1 court to secure the doubles point. The No. 3 fixture, featuring the team of Caitlyn Sporing and Melissa Vizcardo, went unfinished.
• Reinicke doubled the SIUE lead on the No. 3 singles court with a 6-3, 6-4 win, improving to 3-0 in OVC singles play.
• Amber Hochstatter earned the first OVC singles win of her collegiate career with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win on the No. 5 line.
• Fabiola Perez clinched the match victory moments later with another three-set thriller, registering a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win from the No. 4 position.
• Schifano brought the Red & White to five points with a 7-6, 7-5 win on the No. 1 court, recording her tenth singles win of the spring season.
• Nicole Gomez earned the Cougars' second comeback win of the match with a 5-7, 7-6 (10-5) win on the No. 6 line in a match lasting nearly two hours.
• Lambrechts extended her league-leading singles win streak to 14 and clinched the Cougars' first shutout win of the conference season with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 win on the No. 2 court.

News & Notes

• Saturday's win was the Cougars' first at Murray State since March 26, 2016, when SIUE also notched a 7-0 shutout over the Racers.
• SIUE's 14 wins stands as the third-most wins in a single season since the Cougars moved to Division I in the 2008-09 season. The Cougars now sit just four wins behind the 2015-16 team, which won the OVC championship and advanced to the program's first NCAA Tournament.

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Coach's Corner

This was a great team win over a very solid Murray State team. We won 7-0, but this was an incredibly tight match at every singles line. We showed incredible focus and fight whether we were up or down in a match.
    -    Head Coach Adam Albertsen

After losing 4-3 last year, we came in with a competitive mindset starting with doubles. In singles, I was able to grind out a win and help the team.
    -    Jordan Schifano

Really proud of this group. They work so hard and it's awesome to see them growing each week. Now we turn our attention to last year's OVC champion in Austin Peay.
    -    Head Coach Adam Albertsen

Up Next
The Cougars (14-2, 2-1 OVC) will return to action tomorrow morning, as SIUE closes out the weekend road trip with a fixture against defending conference champion Austin Peay. First serve from Clarksville, Tennessee, is scheduled for 11 a.m., and live stats will be available through iOnCourt.