A little spring cleaning was necessary before the SIUC women’s tennis team could claim its first victory of the 1998 spring season.

The Salukis struggled early in St. Louis this weekend, falling short in their first two matches. SIUC lost to Oral Roberts University Friday and St. Louis University Saturday by a 5-4 margin in both matches.

Redeeming the two close losses, the Salukis were able to polish their performances to end the weekend with a lashing of Missouri Valley Conference foe Creighton University 8-1.

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Freshman Keri Crandall opened the weekend playing well, and made it through the weekend unscathed with a 3-0 record in singles competition and a 3-0 record in doubles competition.

I didn’t expect to go 6-0, Crandall said. That was probably the best I have ever played in singles competition.

Similar to their overall weekend performance, the Salukis struggled early against Oral Roberts, winning only two of the six singles matches to begin the meet with a 4-2 deficit.

The Salukis needed to win the remaining three doubles matches in order to come from behind for the victory. SIUC gave a valiant effort but came up short after winning only two of three.

Senior Helen Johnson and Crandall teamed up in doubles competition to defeat Oral Roberts’ Angela Cook and Katia Hirata 8-5. Juniors Maria Villarreal and Jennifer Robison did their part, winning by the same 8-5 margin.

Seniors Molly Card and Sanem Berksoy were unable to pick up the last point, losing a hard-fought battle to Oral Roberts’ Elissandra Rocha and Ingrid Esberger.

It was difficult to start with a 4-2 deficit, said SIUC coach Judy Auld. But the way we looked at the doubles matches, the pressure was on them to win the one point because we were going for broke to win all three matches. We had nothing to lose.

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The only two singles victories came from Berksoy (6-4, 4-6, 6-3) and Crandall (6-0, 6-1).

The Salukis continued play Saturday with a better performance but again fell short in a six-hour meet against host St. Louis University, 5-4.

SIUC split the singles matches at three a piece before picking up only one victory in doubles competition. Berksoy won her second three-set match of the weekend, defeating SLU’s Ingrid Habony (6-1, 4-6, 6-0).

Berksoy lost her focus in the second set, becoming more vocal and expressing her disappointment, Auld said. She was able to pull herself together and focus in the third set for the victory.

Johnson only needed two sets to defeat SLU’s Andra Wilcox 6-2, 6-2, and Keri Crandall took SLU’s Jan Thomas to three sets, defeating her 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Johnson and Crandall were the only Salukis to claim victories in doubles competition with an 8-6 score.

We had trouble keeping focused early in the weekend, Auld said. It is expected early in the season, but it was good to see the improvement as the weekend went on.

The Salukis had cleared the cobwebs in their performances throughout the weekend and ended the weekend by pummeling conference foe Creighton University 8-1. The Salukis won all six singles matches and two of three doubles matches.

Berksoy went perfect in singles competition with a 3-0 record over the weekend, cutting the magic number to 10 to become SIUC’s all-time winningest player. Berksoy’s 110 career victories is second to Maureen Harney’s 119, a record since 1985.

The Salukis travel to Louisville, Ky., Saturday to face Murray State University and Eastern Michigan University.