The SIU men’s and women’s tennis teams took to the road this weekend, and emerged victorious in one of its three matches.
The Saluki women defeated Dayton, 6-1, in their match Friday in Dayton, Ohio, but fell to Cincinnati 4-3 Sunday in Cincinnati. The men lost Sunday to Indiana University 6-1 in Bloomington, Ind.
SIU’s men’s team (1-1) knew that it would be in for a tough day Sunday, as the Hoosiers of Indiana University are the No. 64 ranked team in the country. Head coach Dann Nelson said he was expecting a tough match.
“They’re a ranked team, and we had hoped to come out with a victory,” Nelson said. “Indiana’s good though – real good.”
The men lost the doubles point 2-1, with only Felipe Villasenor and Eric West picking up a victory in the No. 3 flight.
SIU did not fare much better in singles, with only Hugo Vidal winning in the No. 4 singles flight, beating Jeremy Langer 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.
Not even reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Lucas Waked could pick up a win. Waked dropped his No. 1 singles match against the No. 116 nationally ranked Lachlan Ferguson 6-3, 6-4 and his No. 1 doubles match with Anton Leonenko 8-3 against Santiago Gruter and Jeremy Langer.
The men will play again Saturday in Carbondale against Wright State.
The SIU women (3-2) started its weekend strong by picking up a convincing 6-1 win against the Dayton Flyers on Friday. The women swept the doubles point, and took five of six singles matches.
The Salukis started strong again Sunday against Cincinnati, but could not keep the momentum.
After winning the doubles point, they only recorded two wins in their six singles matches. Head coach Audra Nothwehr said that she was happy her team was competitive in those matches, despite being banged up.
“We have some injuries, but they played through them, and played very though,” Nothwehr said. “We just have to erase some of the mental errors, finish off our matches.”
Continuing her winning ways was Fadzai Mawisire, who recorded victories in both of her No. 1 singles matches, and both No. 1 doubles matches with her partner Ame Blacketer. The four wins improve Mawisire’s SIU record to 10-0.
Nothwehr says she has been pleased with the way Mawisire has competed this season.
“She is just tennis smart, you tell her one or two things and she does the rest herself,” Nothwehr said. “She almost coaches herself.”
SIU’s women’s team will play Wednesday in Murray, Ky., to face Murray State.
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