Men's Tennis hosts MVC doubleheader this weekend

April 15, 2011

By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The 8-5 Saluki Men's Tennis team will host a weekend of Missouri Valley Conference play against Creighton on Saturday and No. 63 Drake on Sunday.

Location: Carbondale, Ill.

Site: University Courts (if weather is inclement, matches will be moved indoors to Sports Blast).

First Serve: 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Head Coaches:

SIU: Dann Nelson (85-70 in Division I, 67-56 at SIU, sixth year)

Creighton: Tom Lilly (130-173 at Creighton, 13th year)

Drake: Evan Austin (17-2 at Drake, first year)

Previously On...

SIU: The Salukis (8-5, 1-0) defeated Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 6-1, Tuesday at Edwardsville, Ill.; Lost MVC opener to Wichita State, 6-1, last Saturday in Wichita, Kan.

CU: The Blue Jays (7-8, 0-4) lost at home to MVC opponent Bradley, 5-2, on Sunday, April 10.

DU: The 63rd-ranked Bulldogs (17-2, 3-0) defeated Illinois State, 6-1, at home on Sunday, April 10.

Fabik Countdown

Freshman Adam Fabik inched closer to Mickey Maule's single season wins record after splitting the last two matches against Wichita State and SIUE. The freshman succumbed to WSU's Vlad Marinescu, 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, but fought back against SIUE's Paulo Gonzalez 7-6, 6-4. Fabik is now 11-2 on the dual-match season in singles and 29-5 overall, moving within nine singles wins of the all-time mark of 38 set by Maule in 1988.

Hip Hip, Jorge!

Fellow freshman Jorge Cavero is also 11-2 in singles this year, tying him and Fabik atop SIU's singles leaderboard. Since his move to No. 2 singles on April 6 against Eastern Illinois, Cavero is 3-0 and he is currently riding a four match winning streak -- the second longest this spring to Fabik's six match streak between Feb. 5 and March 14.

Home Sweet Home

The Salukis are 5-1 at home on the dual-match season, with their only loss coming to Vincennes University, 4-3, on March 29. Thirty-two of Dann Nelson's 67 wins during his SIU career have come in Carbondale, as opposed to 13 losses, which yields a .711 home winning percentage for his career. Furthermore, a Nelson coached Saluki team has never lost more than four home matches in a season (2006 and 2010), and has posted two one-loss seasons, with a possible third if they maintain their home record this season (2007, 2009, 2011).