Men’s and Women’s Tennis Recap

The SIUC men’s tennis team claimed victories in crucial matches while the SIUC women came up short. Both finished the weekend with the same fate.

The SIUC men’s tennis team opened the 1998 spring season with a 4-3 win over Murray State University Saturday but then was handed its first lost by Vanderbilt University 7-0 in Nashville, Tenn.

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The women’s team suffered its third 5-4 loss of the season, falling to Murray State University. The Salukis then lost 8-1 against the Eastern Michigan University in Louisville, Ky.

The season began for the SIUC men’s team in doubles competition by winning only one of the three matches against Murray State. Sophomores Mick Smyth and Kenny Hutz defeated Murray State’s Chris Hayden and Jason Miller, 8-3.

Senior Brian Etzkin and sophomore Brian Ingle needed one point for the doubles victory before blowing a 7-1 lead over Murray State’s Sebastian Venjan and Alex Sundsten, losing 9-7.

They [Etzkin and Ingle] felt that they had cost the team by not winning the point in doubles competition, men’s coach Brad Iftner said. But they were able to redeem themselves in their singles matches.

The loss gave the Salukis a one-point deficit entering singles play, but SIUC claimed victories in three of the first five singles matches. Hutz defeated Hayden, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5, while senior Jack Oxler defeated Antti Hyttina, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Etzkin redeemed his doubles loss by defeating Alex Sundsten 6-2, 6-4 to tie the team scores at three. Murray State had five courts, leaving Ingle’s tie-breaking sixth single match to be decided last. Winning both tie-breakers in the second and third sets (2-6, 7-6, 7-5) gave the Salukis a 4-3 season-opening victory.

This was the kind of win we need in order to have a winning season, Iftner said.

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The SIUC men continued the weekend by losing 7-0 to Vanderbilt University. The Salukis gave Vanderbilt little trouble. Oxler fared best, losing in two close sets, 7-5 and 7-6.

I like to schedule tough schools like Vanderbilt to see what level we are at, Iftner said. We have no pressure and can hopefully pull off an upset.

The SIUC women’s team also began the weekend against Murray State University, but fell 5-4 for the third time this season.

The Salukis managed to win two of the six singles matches. Senior Helen Johnson defeated Murray State’s Amy Gemmill 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, while freshman Keri Crandall picked up her fourth singles victory over Sara Morenc, 6-1, 6-1.

Trailing 4-2 entering the doubles portion of the meet, the Salukis needed three wins for the victory. Crandall and Johnson defeated Gemmill and Nina Sartz-Knudsen 8-4, while juniors Maria Villarreal and Jennifer Robison defeated Juliana Hite and Angela Brooks 8-2.

Seniors Molly Card and Sanem Berksoy could not come up with the third win, leaving the Salukis one point short of the victory.

It was frustrating to lose our third 5-4 match, women’s coach Judy Auld said. If we keep working, the 5-4 losses will turn into wins.

The women continued the weekend by losing 8-1 to the University of Eastern Michigan. The only victory for the Salukis came from Johnson, who defeated Agnieszka Tokarguk 6-4, 6-4 in singles competition.

We came into the meet knowing that Eastern Michigan would be a really good team. Auld said. The Murray State match was more of a disappointment knowing we had our chances and losing 5-4.

The SIUC men’s tennis team travels to St. Louis to face St. Louis University, Eastern Illinois University and the University of Memphis March 6 and 7.

The SIUC women tennis team travels to Chicago to face Northern Illinois University, University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University March 6 and 7.