Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis begin play at ITA Regional
10/19/2012 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 19, 2012
By Robin Thuringer
SIUSalukis.com
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- The Southern Illinois University men's tennis team opened competition Thursday at the ITA Regional hosted by the University of Minnesota.
The five-day regional event features 17 teams from across the Midwest including Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Saint Louis, Minnesota, and Arkansas.
The qualifying rounds will began yesterday with three rounds of singles competition. The first round was an eight-game pro-set, while the second and third round matches were two out of three sets with a tie-break in lieu of a third set.
Syzmon Opieczonek and Martijn Admiraal received bye's for the first round automatically qualifying them for the second round.
Orhan Sphaic was the first to compete for the Salukis defeating Bradley Holt of Western Illinois 8-5 to advance to the second round where his opponent from Drake, topped him 6-3, 6-2.
Szymon Opiezonek opened competition in the second round falling 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 to Ashton Kalhorn of Bradley. Martijn Admiraal also fell in the second round to Mitch Granger of Western Illinois.
The main draw starts today with two rounds of doubles followed by one round of singles. Quarterfinals begin on Sunday, Oct. 21. The tournament will wrap up on Monday with singles and doubles finals.
Play will begin at 9:00 a.m. everyday. Live streaming and live scoring will be available at the links listed above.
