Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Bradley
Men's Tennis opens MVC play with win over Bradley
04/02/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
April 2, 2010
By Michael Benson
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's tennis team opened up Missouri Valley Conference play on a positive note Friday in Carbondale, downing the Bradley Braves, 4-3.
The win moves the Salukis to 6-8 on the season and 1-0 in MVC action.
"They all played really hard today," said Saluki head coach Dann Nelson. "Bradley is a really good team, but it was nice to come away with a 4-3 win. We played much better than we did last week."
Junior Falk De Beenhouwer was impressive in No. 3 singles, despite battling an illness that put his availability in question. The Belgian, however, persevered and won a tough match in straight sets against BU senior Callen Fraychineaud 7-6, 6-3.
Chikara Kidera won his fifth and sixth straight matches, as he notched wins in both singles and doubles for the third straight match. Playing No. 4 singles, Kidera handily defeated Brock Reiman 6-2, 6-0. Meanwhile, the freshman paired up with Brandon Florez to take top doubles, dominating the Braves' Fraychineaud and Milos Romic, 8-1.
Not to be outdone, fellow freshman Orhan Spahic captured wins in both singles and doubles for the fourth time this season. The Sarajevo, Bosnia native powered past Eric Nguyen in No. 5 singles 6-4, 6-4, while teaming with Mpilo Migogo in No. 2 doubles to topple BU's Reiman and Robert Richardson, 8-6.
The Dawgs will return to the courts tomorrow, when they face the Illinois State Redbirds in a 1 p.m. match at the University Courts.
Players Mentioned
