By Travis Akin 14

The SIUC women’s tennis team endured rainy weather and long waits between matches and was able to turn the distractions into a winning doubles record last weekend at the Memphis Invitational.

Women’s tennis coach Judy Auld said the No. 1 doubles team of Sanem Berksoy and Molly Card began to play at the level they are capable of playing.

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More than anything, they started to take charge, Auld said. They were poaching and doing the basic things better. They were getting the first serve in. You do that, and you are in the match.

Card and Berksoy lost the quarterfinal match by a score of 9-7 to Murray State University. Auld said they played a solid match, but they were beaten in a close set.

Card said everything seemed to be working for her and Berksoy on the court.

We were playing well all around, Card said. We played a tough match against Murray State, and we weren’t disappointed at all. We were going for shots, and we communicated a lot better than we had (in the past).

Card and Berksoy finished the weekend 1-1 in doubles play. Freshmen Keri Crandall and Laura Waggoner also had a good weekend by winning the No. 4 doubles competition, and they finished with a record of 2-0.

In No. 2 doubles, senior Helen Johnson and junior Mardee Crane lost in the semifinals to Middle Tennessee State University 8-2. Johnson and Crane won the first two matches they played 8-1 and 9-8.

At the No. 3 position, juniors Jennifer Robison and Maria Villarreal were 1-1, losing in the semifinals.

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Auld said it is particularly important to have strong doubles teams because that can be the difference in the spring dual matches.

We have the nucleus to have four good doubles teams, Auld said. That is a big key in winning the dual matches. Ultimately, doubles can win a lot of matches. You come out of singles 3-3 or 4-2, you have got to pull out one or two doubles matches.

Although the team did well in doubles, the players had some frustrations in singles play because rain prevented the consolation rounds from taking place. There were fewer courts, and the team had to wait a long time between matches.

Crandall led the way in singles matches by going 2-1. She lost in semifinals to Larissa Liese of Middle Tennessee State University.

Because the consolation matches were canceled, it prevented SIUC players who suffered some close losses from playing extra matches.

That was really disappointing that we didn’t get a lot of matches, Auld said. Sanem (Berksoy) had only one singles match. She lost 7-5 and 7-5. How much closer can you get?

The team would have liked more matches, but the players did not let it bother them. Crane said the team tried to stay warmed up and ignored the long waiting between matches.

We had a lot of waiting, Crane said. But we made sure to warm up. A lot of teams were just waiting around. I think that helped us a lot.