Saluki netters prepare for weekend battles

By Gus Bode

The SIUC women’s tennis team will make final preparations for Missouri Valley Conference play while the men’s team begins conference play today.

This weekend marks the last non-conference meet of the season for the women’s team as they travel to Memphis, Tenn., to face the University of Memphis today. The women continue the weekend against Tennessee Tech University and Belmont University Saturday.

The Salukis are coming off an exhausting spring break trip to Chicago and Florida, returning with a 3-3 record. The record leaves the Salukis with a 4-7 record for the season.

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Women’s coach Judy Auld was pleased with the .500 record and was more satisfied with the improvements of the doubles teams. Both doubles teams of seniors Molly Card and Sanem Berksoy and juniors Jennifer Robison and Maria Villareal picked up three wins each during the week.

Our doubles teams have started to come around, Auld said. It has not been as strong as our singles have been. I really want to see more consistency from our doubles play.

While the doubles teams improved, the singles play continued its strong ways as senior Helen Johnson became the fifth woman in SIUC history to claim 100 career singles victories. Johnson has 101 career wins, leaving her third all-time for most career singles wins in SIUC history. Freshman Keri Crandall returned with a 5-1 record.

The trip to Florida was the Salukis’ first competition outdoors. Coach Auld noticed Robison was more comfortable playing outside, which will make the Salukis stronger as the season continues.

I play better outside because I feel like I am not closed in, Robison said. I feel like I have a bigger court to play on.

The Salukis have had two weeks to recover from the physical and mental stresses of traveling and competing throughout spring break. They hope that this weekend will prepare them for conference play beginning next weekend.

The men’s team begins MVC play against the University of Evansville today in Evansville, Ind. The men meet Indiana University, Purdue University of Indianapolis and Valparaiso University in Indianapolis Saturday. The men finish the weekend against Butler University Sunday.

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The men are also coming off a spring break full of traveling and have had two weeks to recover. The Salukis returned from St. Louis with a 2-1 record, defeating Eastern Illinois University and St. Louis University.

The Salukis’ experience in Florida was not as successful as they dropped all four meets and returned home with a 2-5 spring break record and a 3-7 record for the season.

The Salukis’ biggest disappointment of the week was not their record but the loss of sophomore Kyle Henry, who left the team for personal reasons. Men’s coach Brad Iftner knows that his team will have to play its best to achieve his goal for a top six-seed in the MVC Tournament.

A top-six seed was very possible before Kyle left, Iftner said. But the guys can either give up or pull together. If we pull together, we can still do it.

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