Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Tennis loses contest with Austin Peay, 4-3
02/18/2012 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 17, 2012
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - It was up to the last three singles matches for Southern Illinois to mount a comeback win against Austin Peay, but the Salukis fell one match short in their 4-3 loss to the Governors Friday at Sportsblast.
Taking the doubles point was no easy task for Southern today, as the clincher went into an extra game. In an overall tight match, junior Orhan Spahic and freshman Szymon Opieczonek eventually overtook the Governor duo of John Storie and Aleksas Tverijonas at No. 3 doubles, 9-7.
After taking the doubles point, the Salukis (1-2, 0-0) dug themselves into a hole, losing at the top three singles spots to the Governors (3-2, 0-0) - the top two of which were against undefeated opponents at those positions.
Down 3-1, the Salukis needed to win the remaining matches to pull out a victory, and they nearly did. Freshman Martijn Admiraal claimed the first Saluki singles win at No. 4, taking care of APSU's Iago Seffrin, 6-2, 6-4.
At No. 5 singles sophomore Rafael Cuadrillero played a Herculean first set that took over an hour and went into a tiebreak, but was unable to fight back in the second set to keep Southern's hopes alive, falling to Tverijonas, 6-7 (4), 2-6, sealing the win for Austin Peay.
Rounding out Saluki singles play was Spahic, who won in three sets against Storie, 4-6, 7-6, 10-4.
"We were just a few breaks away from a point here, a held serve there," said Head Coach Dann Nelson. "We were in these matches, we just gotta get over the hump."
The Salukis return to action Sunday when they will play host to SIU-Edwardsville, with a projected first serve at 2 p.m. following the women's match also against the Cougars starting at 10 a.m.
Singles:
1. ADEMOVIC, Jasmin (APSU) def. Badr Cherradi (SIU) 7-5, 6-4
2. BAILEY, Sean (APSU) def. Stanislas Rodier (SIU) 6-2, 6-4
3. RISTOVSKI, Dimitar (APSU) def. Brandon Florez (SIU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. Martijn Admiraal (SIU) def. SEFFRIN, Iago (APSU) 6-2, 6-4
5. TVERIJONAS, Aleksas (APSU) def. Rafael Cuadrillero (SIU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
6. Orhan Spahic (SIU) def. STORIE, John (APSU) 4-6, 7-6, 10-4
Doubles:
1. BAILEY, Sean/RISTOVSKI, Dimitar (APSU) def. Martijn Admiraal/Brandon Florez (SIU) 8-3
2. Badr Cherradi/Stanislas Rodier (SIU) def. ADEMOVIC, Jasmin/SEFFRIN, Iago (APSU) 8-3
3. Szymon Opieczonek/Orhan Spahic (SIU) def. STORIE, John/TVERIJONAS, Aleksas (APSU) 9-7
Players Mentioned
