By: Darius White
MTN Sports Reporter
Murfreesboro, Tenn. — MTSU Women’s Tennis Team will resume play today, after a 21 day break in their schedule with this weekend’s matchups against in conference opponent Marshall and a 13 win Cincinnati team.
“We still got the same number of matches,” said Head Coach Tayo Bailey-Duvall when speaking on the scheduled break.
The Lady Raiders last played on March 10th losing to Tulane 7-0 capping off five straight matches scheduled on the road tallying up only one victory.
“We were going since the beginning,” said Duvall on consistent play throughout the season. “Almost every weekend. I think we needed it.”
However, rest seemed to be a small theme of the three week hiatus, as players mentioned increased workouts to prepare for the back stretch of the season leading to the conference championship tournament.
“Actually the break has been really tough practice wise,” said Junior Muskan Gupta. “We have been training a lot more and a lot harder because we don’t have matches.”
With the Blue Raiders current record being 9-10, players expressed wins and losses not showing the whole picture of the season.
“We’ve had a lot of improvement,” said Freshman Eloise Swarbrick when asked about the team’s record. “I would say 9-10 definitely hasn’t reflected our season.”
MTSU is looking to finish out their last four games of the regular season with some momentum.
“The plan is to go undefeated and beat Marshall and Cincy this weekend,” said Duvall.
Marshall is currently one game ahead of MTSU with a 10-9 record entering the match with a three game win streak since last playing two weeks ago.
MTSU has a three game losing streak against Marshall, with the Blue Raiders being outscored 4-3 in all of those matches.
“We go into this Marshall match with a revenge mindset,” said Duvall “Every year this conference team, they come, and they bring it and we bring it.”
After Friday’s match one of the two teams will earn their first in conference win of the season.
The Lady Raider will be in for another challenging match as they also face the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday.
“We know that’s going to be a tough fight,” said Duvall.