Southern Illinois University
Wichita State
Women's Tennis topped by Wichita State
04/17/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2010
By Michael Benson
www.SIUSalukis.com
WICHITA, Kan. - With a chance to move into first place in the Missouri Valley Conference Saturday in Wichita, Kan., the Saluki women's tennis team could not overcome the strong play of the Shockers, falling, 6-1.
The Salukis still clinched at least the third seed in next weekend's MVC Tournament despite the loss, as fourth-place Northern Iowa fell to Illinois State.
"I think our freshman played really strong today," said Southern Illinois head coach Audra Nothwehr. "Melanie gave the top player in our region a great match and made her earn her money's worth. Jen played well and pushed her player to a super tiebreak and Ana won her doubles match with Michela."
The lone singles win came courtesy of senior Jessica Flannery in No. 6 singles, who throttled Lily Wakim 6-0, 6-1. The win gave her a ninth triumph of the year and pushes her record at sixth singles to 6-1 on the year.
Meanwhile, freshmen Melanie Delsart and Jennifer Dien nearly came away with huge wins in their respective singles matches. Delsart faced Luftiana Budiharto - the nation's 48th-ranked player - in top singles. The freshman Saluki lost 6-4, 6-2, but did win more games (6) than any player in the MVC had all season.
Dien won her opening set against Lenore Lazaroiu, but could not hold to momentum into the second and third sets, losing 4-6, 6-3, 10-3.
Southern Illinois did notch one win in doubles, as Anastacia Simons and Michela Cruise beat Delia Damaschin and Iasmine Carpen, 8-6.
The Salukis will conclude their regular season Sunday morning in Omaha, Neb., when they take on the Creighton Bluejays in a 9 a.m. tilt.
Players Mentioned
