Salukis gain valuable experience at Ole Miss Fall Classic

Sept. 18, 2006

By Ryan Shaw
www.siusalukis.com

The Southern Illinois women's tennis team participated in the Ole Miss Fall Classic in Oxford, Miss. over the weekend. The three-day tournament featured Arkansas, Arkansas-Little Rock, Georgia, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, North Florida, Ole Miss, South Alabama, Southern Illinois. Southern Mississippi, and Troy.

While the Salukis did not win any of the singles or doubles draws, the weekend tournament gave head coach Rene Vidal a chance to evaluate his team against NCAA tournament-level players.

Juniors Ame Blacketer and Sabine Tsala Mvilongo played well on the doubles court against Georgia's Yvette Hyndman and Lara Fakhoury, falling by the close score of 9-7.

"Ame and Sabine were in position to win against a top-ranked Georgia doubles team and Ame was in position to win against South Alabama (in singles), another NCAA tournament team," said Vidal."We know that we can compete at a high level.The challenge is to do it consistently."

Freshman Michela Cruise defeated Adriana Alvarez of MSU, 6-0, 6-3, in the first round of the singles consolation draw.

Tsala Mvilongo picked up a win on the singles court against USM's Brittany Serret, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, which advanced her to the quarterfinal round of play. Andrea Courtney also made it to the quarters with a 6-2, 7-6(8) win over Troy's Fabiana Gouveia.

"Andrea and Sabine competed well to advance to the quarters of singles," said Vidal."Overall, as a team, there were more positives than negatives. Our pre-match preparation and team chemistry improved this weekend and we're paying better attention to the details that will help us succeed both on and off the court."