Doubles Tennis Team Wins Title at Billiken Classic
03/13/2001 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
October 1, 2000
St. Louis, Mo. -
The Southern Illinois University Carbondale doubles tennis team of Valentin Epure and Dante Santa Cruz won the Flight A Doubles title at the Billiken Tennis Classic on Sunday, October 1, at St. Louis University. Epure and Santa Cruz beat the host team of Michael Hoosien and Lance Vodicka 8-6.
"Val and Dante are an excellent doubles team. They have an excellent handle on playing doubles together," said Missy Jeffrey, SIU head men's tennis coach. "They win like clockwork, especially the tight matches. I'm not too concerned when they step out on the court."
Epure and Santa Cruz won four matches to earn the title, including 8-1, 8-0, and 8-3 victories on the way to the title match. Saluki teammates Alon Salvidor and Tim Marsh lost in the semi-finals to Hoosien and Vodicka 3-8 on Saturday, September 30, after winning two matches on Friday, September 29.
Dante Santa Cruz also had a strong weekend of singles play, capturing the Flight B Singles title with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Eric Schrumpf of Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday, October 1. Santa Cruz received a bye, then won matches 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-0 before reaching the finals.
"Dante's playing excellent right now (5-1) and he is confident. He won some tough matches and he played well last week also. The only match he lost all year (last week at the MTSU Tourney) he had match point, so he's close to being undefeated," added Jeffrey.
Tim Marsh lost in the semi-finals of the Flight B Singles to Eric Schrumpf 6-4, 4-6, 7-10 on Saturday, September 30, after winning two matches on Friday, September 29.
The Salukis had a good showing in the Flight A Singles draw as well. Valentine Epure and Alon Salvidor each won their first round and quarterfinal matches on Friday, September 29, before losing in separate semi-final matches on Saturday, September 30.
"We had a great weekend as a team. We played well in the singles draws and the doubles draw. We were very close to three all Saluki finals at the tournament," stated Jeffrey.
The Salukis finished the weekend with a 10-5 singles record. Dante Santa Cruz Led SIU with a 3-0 record. Valentin Epure, Alon Salvidor and Tim Marsh, all posted 2-1 records and Chris Carpenter finished the weekend 1-2.
Next weekend, the Salukis will compete at the Louisville Tournament on October 6-8.