Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Molloy's fall season was an epic turnaround
11/12/2015 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
SIUSalukis.com
Tony McDaniel
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- The Saluki men's tennis team completed a tremendous tournament-season turnaround in October when the squad finished 75-33 in all of its matches, a huge improvement on 2014's tournament-season record of 42-38. One of the keys to the turnaround was a bounce-back season by sophomore Peter Molloy.
Molloy finished the 2014 tournament season with a record of 2-4 in singles and doubles matches combined. In 2015, he finished the tournament season 14-5. Nine of those wins came in singles matches, which places Molloy in a six-way tie for sixth place on SIU's all-time list for singles wins in the fall. SIU juniors Michal Kianicka and Wilder Pimentel are also tied with Molloy for sixth with nine fall wins.
Molloy attributes his success in the fall to individual training sessions he put in during the summer at home on England's clay courts of the Weald Tennis Club in West Sussex, England.
"When I came back I felt quite fit and strong," Molloy said. "I didn't have to work my way back into it, I felt ready to go."
It became clear that Molloy, as well as the rest of the men's tennis team, was beginning an upswing at the first tournament of the fall, the Purdue Fall Invitational. Molloy went 2-1 in singles matches that weekend and made a run all the way to the championship of the Flight C doubles draw with fellow sophomore Daniel Martinez, a loss that Molloy called unlucky since the Saluki duo played such a tight match.
Molloy said that the team's momentum, as well as his own, started at that tournament and never stopped. Two weeks later at the Champaign Challenger, Molloy had his best tournament of the season when he went 2-1 against world-ranked players from Iowa. Both of his wins came against opponents in the top-200 in the International Tennis Federation Juniors rankings. Molloy closed out the fall season with four-straight wins in singles matches.
The biggest strength in Molloy's game is his speed, but he has also adapted to the level of play of tennis at the Division I level.
"If you switch off for just a second it can cost you the set or even the match," Molloy said. "Before I came here I was quite a defensive player, then I realized that doesn't really work at this level. You're not going to get players that are going to give you cheap points. You have to earn the point and go for it yourself. That's something I've tried to do more."
Molloy said he is still working to improve several aspects of his game including placing more movement on his backhand shot and improving his serve. Molloy said his offseason workout routine helped improve his strength, which in turn has improved his serve.
Looking forward, Molloy said he expects he and the rest of the team to carry over the momentum from the fall season to the start of dual-match season and into conference play. The Salukis have a chance to continue what has been a tremendous turnaround at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in April since perennial powerhouses Drake and Wichita State graduated many key players last season.
"We're expecting big things after the fall-tournament season we had," Molloy said. "In conference, we're the only team that has probably gotten better. The other teams lost a lot of players. We've definitely got a shot at overturning them during the conference season."
Molloy and the rest of his teammates will be back on the court on Jan. 16 when the team plays Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee to kick off the dual-match season.
Players Mentioned
