Men's, Women's Tennis Open Play in Chattanooga
10/02/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 2, 2009
By Michael Benson
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Both the SIU men's and women's tennis teams hit the courts Friday for the first day of play at the Steve Baras Fall Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn.
On the day, four member of the women's team advanced to the semi-finals in their respective flights.
Senior Jessica Flannery turned in an amazing performance in women's singles by advancing to the semi-finals in the Lookout Mountain Flight. In the first round, Flannery defeated Stephanie Cohen of Mercer 6-3, 6-4. The senior followed that with an upset of second-seeded Raphaela Lima of Jacksonville State 6-3, 6-3.
In addition, Vishakha Sheoran advanced to the semi-finals in the Gold Flight. After receiving a bye as the flight's top seed, Sheoran quickly disposed of Eastern Kentucky's Anais Hamel 6-0, 6-3.
Michela Cruise won her first match by prevailing over Jessica Keehn of North Alabama 6-0, 6-0, then upset Rivermont Flight top seed Belisa de Brito of Tennessee-Martin.
Emily Whitney also opened the day with a win by besting Kelsey Gray of Lee University, but later fell to third-seeded Emily Hangstefer of host Chattanooga 6-3, 6-0, in the Lookout Mountain Flight.
Additionally, Martina Ce advanced to the semi-finals in the North Shore Flight, as the top-seeded Brazilian trounced Lipscomb's Courtney Nutt 6-1, 6-0.
Jennifer Dien also saw action, but was defeated by Iesha Holton of Kennesaw State 6-3, 6-1.
In women's doubles action, the duo of Whitney and Cruise recorded the lone doubles win, as they topped Lindsey Bennett and Julianne McMeen of Belmont, 8-2.
"Our veterans were solid in singles today," said women's head coach Audra Nothwehr. "We have four in the semifinals tomorrow with Michela, Vishakha, Jessica and Martina. We've shown today that we still need work on our doubles, though.
On the men's side, freshmen Brandon Florez and Chikara Kidera both notched first round wins in singles play.
Florez opened the day in Flight A1 with a win over Lee's Michael Yokosuk 7-5, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Florez nearly pulled of an upset, but eventually fell to second-seeeded Matthew Langley of Middle Tennessee State.
Kidera followed his teammates trend Friday morning by pulling out a victory over Fernando Armendaris of Mercer 6-1, 2-6, 1-0(8). Yet, Kidera would face a similar fate as Florez, falling to Flight A2 four seed Alex McCann of MTSU.
Also for the men, Orhan Spahic fell to third-seeded Kyle Wishing of MTSU in the first round in Flight B1. He would go on to the consolation round, where he defeated Chattanooga's Jackson Tresnan courtesy of an injury withdrawal. In addition, Jordan Snyder fell to Belmont's Felipe Lima 6-0, 6-1, while Pavlo Buryi lost to Ryan Boutell of Kennesaw State 6-0, 6-4.
In doubles, Kidera and Florez could not continue their singles magic, as the pair fell to Philip Janz and Nik Schroeder of Eastern Kentucky, 8-4. Also, Snyder and Spahic fell to another pair from EKU, as they lost to Alex Dias and Carlos Pons, 8-4.
"Brandon played a good first match and also the first set in his second match before slowing down" men's tennis head coach Dann Nelson said. "Chikara was able to pull out a very close match and win in a tiebreak first round.
"Our doubles and fitness needs to improve. Jordan, Pavlo and Orhan all have consolation matches to play, so we are still in the tournament."
Players Mentioned
