The Southeast Missouri State University tennis team is on its way to a great season.

The Redhawks record is an even 4-4. The four losses are to Southern Illinois University, St. Louis University, University Northern Iowa and Iowa State University. The four victories are against Western Kentucky University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Butler University and the University of Nebraska Omaha.

The roster is made up of seven girls all ranging from freshman to senior. The coach is Leah Hottois. Hottois has been the coach of the team since September 2013. Before that, she was the assistant coach at the University of Dayton and Wellesley College. She has previously been a private coach as well.

"I love watching the student athletes develop as good tennis players and successful young adults," Hottois said.

Heather Robinson is a senior on the team. Her hometown is Durham, England, and she is one of this week's Athletes of the Week. She has the highest number of singles victories so far this season with a record of 12-4 wins/losses. In her last match, she defeated Southern Illinois' Ariadna Cairo Baza 6-3, 7-6. This victory gives her a winning streak of five matches. Her double record is 6-7. Most often she partners with either Valeriia Nagovitcina or Melissa Martin.

Melissa Martin, a junior in her third year on the team, has high hopes for the team. She currently has a record of 3-4 in her single matches and a 2-6 in her doubles.She most often partners with Heather Robinson. In Martin's last singles match against Southern Illinois' Lola Garcia, she won both matches with scores of 7-6, 6-3.

"Individually we've all got a lot of talent. We're a very strong team, we just need to put it all together at the same time," Martin said.

"I love the competition and just knowing that you can do something well, especially in doubles, like having someone be part of the team and knowing that what you do can help other people," Martin said.

Annisa Warasanti is a freshman on the team. Her hometown is Bandung, Indonesia. She currently holds a singles record of 10-6 and a doubles record of 2-8. Her last win was against IUPUI's Rachael Bridegroom with scores of 2-6, 6-4, 1-0.

Valeriia Kashina is in her first year at Southeast. She is a student from Togliatti, Russia.

Kashina is 3-10 in her single matches and 5-5 in her double matches. Most often she partners with Ekaterina Donetckova. She is also very confident that the team can improve for the rest of the season. Her last win was against IUPUI's Bobbi Modesto with scores of 6-4, 4-6, 1-0.

"I know our potential, and I know we can do better," Kashina said.

The team had been struggling at the beginning of the season with their doubles matches, losing many of their early matches, but as the season went on, the ladies started forming a better team unity and began winning many more doubles matches. The current team high for doubles matches is the pairing of Valeriia Kashina and Ekaterina Donetckova with a record of 5-4.

"The ladies have a lot of team cohesiveness, we're working together as a team, everyone's getting along, and everyone's on the same page and that's what we need," Hottois said.

The tennis team's next match is an away game against Arkansas State University on March 8.