Southern Illinois University
Bradley Invitational
Women's Tennis begins season at Bradley Invitational
09/10/2006 | 12:00:00 | Women's Tennis
Sept. 10, 2006
By Ryan Shaw
www.siusalukis.com
The Southern Illinois women's tennis team kicked off the fall season on the road at the Bradley Invitational in Peoria, Ill. Fellow Missouri Valley Conference member Bradley University hosted SIU, Cleveland State University, Western Illinois, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the two-day tournament.
The Salukis opened play on Saturday with a victory over UWM on the doubles courts as senior Amanda Taillefer and sophomore Andrea Courtney defeated Kari Kastenholz and Ashley Schoneman, 8-4 and the freshmen duo of Jessica Flannery and Michela Cruise defeated Kelly Drvaric and Ashley Clark, 8-5.
The Salukis then fell to Bradley in doubles, 2-1. Flannery and Cruise picked up SIU's only doubles victory of the match, beating Bradley's Teri Chan and Kim Braun 8-5.
In the day one singles matches SIU picked up a total record of 5-4 as they defeated WIU 3-0 and fell to UWM (2-1) and CSU (2-1). Encouragingly, three of the Saluki's youngest players picked up victories in the singles sweep over WIU as sophomore Andrea Courtney and freshmen Cruise and Flannery won their matches.
Taillefer picked up her first singles win of the season, defeating Ali O'Neal of UWM, 6-3, 5-7, 11-9.
The Salukis opened the second day of the tournament with a 2-1 doubles victory over WIU before going on to collect a combined 7-5 singles mark.
Once again, the freshman shined for SIU. Cruise picked up two more singles wins over Bradley's Elise Montrose, 6-2, 6-3, and UWM's Kastenholz, 6-4, 6-3. Flannery also picked up two more singles victories, defeating Bradley's Emily Regenolg, 6-1, 6-2, and UWM's Drvaric, 6-3, 6-4.
Taillefer also picked up another singles victory, posting a 6-3, 6-2 win over CSU's Charlotte Gibbons.
The Salukis will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Oxford, Miss. For the Ole Miss Classic. The three-day tournament begins on Friday.
Players Mentioned
