Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Southern Mississippi
Salukis drop match, 6-1, against Southern Mississippi
03/09/2015 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
By Katja Sonkeng
SIUSalukis.com
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -Just 24 hours after the tough battle with University of New Orleans, the Salukis returned to the courts on Monday morning, falling, 6-1, to Southern Mississippi University, just days after the Golden Eagles topped No. 77 Arizona.
The SIU men's tennis team pushed the Golden Eagles to their limits, but were unable to pull away, falling 6-1. With the second consecutive road loss, SIU slips to 3-8 overall on the season.
"We went into the match very focused and many of the guys played better today," head coach Dann Nelson said. "It was not enough though to overcome a very good USMM team that just knocked off Arizona a couple days earlier."
Starting off the day with singles competition, SIU's No. 1 player Jonny Rigby saw his eight-match win streak snapped as he dropped his match against Southern Mississippi's Tarun Surat, 6-0, 6-4. Michal Kianicka kept the Salukis in the run, however, knocking off USMM's Wen-Po Tseng in two hard fought sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, at the No. 2 flight. His win marks the ninth-straight singles match the SIU sophomore has won on this season.
The rest of the Salukis couldn't pick up on Kianicka's success to complete the upset despite strong efforts, particularly from the freshmen Daniel Martinez and Peter Molloy whose rallies came up short as they dropped their matches 1-6, 4-6 and 4-6, 6-7 (1-7), respectively.
SIU's No. 1 doubles tandem Michael Kianicka and Alex Pozo were the first off the courts in doubles competition, topping their opponents 6-4. However, Jonny Rigby and Szymon Opieczonek at the No. 2 and Daniel Martinez and Ransom Braaten at the No. 3 were unable to keep the momentum alive as they dropped both of their matches 6-3 and 6-1.
The Salukis will look to bounce back on Tuesday, when they take on No. 57 Southern Alabama University at 2 p.m. in Mobile, Ala. With the match against the Jaguars, who are currently 7-4 overall on the season, the SIU men's tennis team will close out their Southern-bound road trip.
Complete Results
Singles
L: Tarun Surat (USMM) def. Jonny Rigby (SIU) 6-0, 6-4
W: Michal Kianicka (SIU) def. Wen-Po Tseng (USMM) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
L: Chao-Yu Huang (USMM) def. Alex Pozo (SIU) 6-4, 6-1
L: Alex Doleac (USMM) def. Daniel Martinez (SIU) 7-5, 6-4
L: Mikhail Esipov (USMM) def. Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) 6-0, 6-1
L Rakshit Rishi (USMM) def. Peter Molloy (SIU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
Doubles
W: Michal Kianicka/Alex Pozo (SIU) def. Alex Doleac/Brad Marriott (USMM) 6-4
L: Daniel Merker/Mikhail Esipov (USMM) def. Jonny Rigby/Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) 6-3
L: Tarun Surat/Rakshit Rishi (USMM) def. Daniel Martinez/Ransom Braaten (SIU) 6-1
