Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
MVC Individual Championships
Spahic shines in first day at MVC Individuals
01/22/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 22, 2010
By Michael Benson
www.SIUSalukis.com
DES MOINES, Iowa - Orhan Spahic advanced to the Flight #5 semifinals after day one of competition at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual championships Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
Spahic lost his first match of the day to Creighton's James McAvoy in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. However, the native of Bosnia came through in the clutch and convincingly defeated Eric Nguyen 7-5, 6-4, to move on to the semifinals. Spahic will face off against Drake's James McKie Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Salukis were unable to replicate the freshman's success.
Playing in Flight #1, Brandon Florez was paired with one of the Central region's top ranked singles players in Wichita State's Vlad Marinescu. Despite a strong showing early, Florez was unable to complete the upset, losing to Marinescu 6-3, 6-2. The McKinney, Texas, native also fell in the second match to Creighton's Billy Paluch 6-0, 7-5.
Chikara Kidera also dropped both of his matches in Flight #2, falling to Bradley's Milos Romic 6-4, 7-5, and Timon Reichelt of Illinois State 6-1, 6-2.
SIU newcomer Mpilo Migogo made his Saluki debut in Flight #3. Despite joining the team during winter break, Migogo was impressive in a close loss to Illinois State's Alexander Pelaez 6-4, 6-3. In the second match, Migogo fell to Sven Kasper of Wichita State 6-2, 7-5.
In Flight #4, Falk De Beenhouwer played in possibly the most intriguing matchup of the day. After falling to David Cavalcanti (WSU) in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, the native of Belgium faced Bradley's Brock Reiman for a shot at the semifinals. The two split the first two sets, setting the stage for a winner-take-all final set. However, De Beenhouwer came up short, falling 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Flights #6 and #7 saw Jordan Snyder and Pavlo Buryi both lose their respective matches. Snyder fell to Creighton's Bryan Lube 6-3, 6-1, and Xavier Riart-Ferrer of Illinois State 6-2, 6-1, while Buryi lost his lone match to Illinois State's Michael Hobson 6-0, 7-5.
Play resumes Saturday morning as doubles action kicks off, followed by singles play. Full results of Day One in Des Moines can be found at www.mvc-sports.com
Players Mentioned
