Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Wichita State
Salukis drop MVC opener to Wichita State, 7-0
04/01/2015 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
By Katja Sonkeng
SIUSalukis.com
WICHITA, Kan. - The SIU men's tennis team fell in its Missouri Valley Conference opener against Wichita State, 7-0, on Wednesday afternoon at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex.
With today's loss, the Salukis slip to 6-13 overall on the season. Overall, SIU is 1-11 against the Shockers with the Salukis' last victory dating back to 2009, the year the Salukis won the MVC Team Championships.
While the scoreboard did not reflect it, the Salukis came out strong in doubles competition, but were unable to close out two of three matches. Jonny Rigby and Szymon Opieczonek picked up the lone Saluki victory of the day at the No.3 doubles spot, topping their opponents 8-5. At the No.1 spot, Michal Kianicka and Alex Pozo pushed their match to a tiebreaker set before falling 8-7.
"The highlight was our doubles play. We played much better today than we did against Illinois State," head coach Dann Nelson said.
Going into singles play with a 1-0 deficit, the Salukis were unable to recover from the early hole and dropped all of the remaining six matches. Senior Szymon Opieczonek rallied back from a first-set loss to send his second set into a tiebreaker before coming up short 6-4, 4-6 (11-9) at the No. 4 flight. At the No. 6 spot, freshman Aidan Saggers ended the competition on a dramatic note when he challenged his opponent to a super-set tiebreaker in which he lost 4-6, 6-4, 10-4.
"There were many close matches," Nelson said. "Wichita is a good team that will make a run at the championship."
The Salukis will look to bounce back on Saturday, when they travel to Bloomington, Ill. to take on Illinois State for a rematch after the teams met last weekend at the MTSU Shootout. In last weekend's match-up, the Redbirds came away with a 4-2 victory over SIU.
Complete Results
Doubles
L: Tomislav Gregurovic/Tin Ostojic (WSU) def. Michal Kianicka/Alex Pozo (SIU) 8-7 (4)
L: Ilija Cuic/Guillermo de Vilchez (WSU) def. Daniel Martinez/Ransom Braaten (SIU) 8-2
W: Jonny Rigby/Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) def. Jocelyn Devilliers/Miroslav Herzan (WSU) 8-5
Singles
L: Tin Ostojic (WSU) def. Jonny Rigby (SIU) 6-2, 6-2
L: Tomislav Gregurovic (WSU) def. Michal Kianicka (SIU) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
L Ilija Cuic (WSU) def. Daniel Martinez (SIU) 6-1, 6-3
L: Guillermo de Vilchez (WSU) def. Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) 6-4, 4-6 (11-9)
L: Jocelyn Devilliers (WSU) def. Peter Molloy (SIU) 6-3, 6-2
L: Sergio de Vilchez (WSU) def. Aidan Saggers (SIU) 4-6, 6-4, 10-4
Players Mentioned
