Southern Illinois University
Eastern Kentucky
Salukis split opening day matches
01/16/2016 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
Tony McDaniel
SIUSalukis.com
Knoxville, Tenn. -- Southern Illinois opened the 2016 dual match on Saturday with a thrilling victory and a shutout loss to a nationally ranked team. SIU dropped its first match of the season to the No. 44-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, 7-0, before beating Eastern Kentucky, 4-3.
"We feel we did not play up to our abilities and Tennessee just took it to us," head coach Dann Nelson said. "Tennessee is very talented and of course well coached. We feel like we did not play up to our potential."
Tennessee jumped out to an early lead by easily taking the doubles point from SIU. The Volunteers won the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches, but SIU sophomores Daniel Martinez and Peter Molloy kept things close at No. 3 doubles before losing 6-4 to Tennessee's duo of Preston Touliatos and Jack Heslin.
Tennessee continued to cruise straight through singles matches, easily taking the next four points to take a 5-0 lead. Junior Michal Kianicka kept his match at No. 2 singles against Luis Valero close, but eventually lost 6-4, 6-4. Junior Wilder Pimentel gave SIU its best opportunity to steal a point away from the Volunteers. He took his match against Timo Stodder to a 10-point tiebreaker set but came up just short of his first dual match win as a Saluki. Stodder defeated Pimentel 6-2, 6-7, 10-7 to give Tennessee a clean sweep over the Salukis.
In SIU's second match of the day, the Salukis fared better against Eastern Kentucky and earned their first win of the season in thrilling fashion.
With the score tied 3-3 and just one match left to play at No. 1 singles, senior Jonny Rigby fought back from a 4-0 deficit in the third set to defeat Eastern Kentucky's Alex Alvaro 7-6 to secure the Salukis' first win of the season.
"We brought more energy and enthusiasm in our second match," Nelson said. "We found ways to win matches today even though many of our guys may not be playing their best. We have a lot of work to do to be where we want to be, but we found a way to win. This one could have gone either way, and I am very proud for the way we bounced back after the loss this morning."
Pimentel and Kianicka also won their matches in singles play to help SIU to the 4-3 win. Pimentel's 7-5, 7-5 victory over Ramon van Flymen was his first dual match victory as a Saluki.
In doubles play, the Colonels won the first match, but SIU answered back with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take the doubles point and a 1-0 lead. Nelson said the doubles point was crucial for SIU's victory.
The nation's No. 41 ranked duo of Rigby and Kianicka defeated van Flymen and Alvaro 6-2. Rigby and Kianicka are now just five doubles wins away from being SIU's all-time leaders in doubles wins. Mickey Maule and Fabiano Ramos are the current doubles win record holders with 44 wins.
SIU will be back in action on Sunday against Mercer in Knoxville, Tenn.
Match results:
*All matches in order of finish
SIU vs. Tennessee
Doubles matches:
Jack Schipanski & Luis Valero def. Jonny Rigby & Michal Kianicka 6-1
Igor Smelyanski & Timo Stodder def. Wilder Pimentel & Alex Pozo 6-2
Preston Touliatos & Jack Heslin def. Daniel Martinez & Peter Molloy 6-4
Singles matches:
Jack Heslin def. Thomas Kyle 6-1, 6-1
Jack Schipanski def. Alex Pozo 6-3, 6-0
Preston Touliatos def. Peter Molloy 6-2, 6-2
Igor Smelyanski def. Jonny Rigby 6-3, 6-2
Luis Valero def. Michal Kianicka 6-4, 6-4
Time Stodder def. Wilder Pimentel 6-2, 6-7, 10-7
SIU vs. Eastern Kentucky
Doubles results:
Diogo Soares & Indra Patwardhan def. Peter Molloy & Daniel Martinez 6-1
Jonny Rigby & Michal Kianicka def. Roman van Flymen & Alex Alvaro 6-2
Wilder Pimentel & Alex Pozo def. Sebastian Muller & Diego Asis 6-3
Singles results
Florian Graskamp def. Daniel Martinez 6-1, 6-3
Michal Kianicka def. Sebastian Muller 6-4, 6-3
Guillen Sanchis def. Thomas Kyle 6-2, 6-4
Diogo Soares def. Peter Molloy 6-4, 6-1
Wilder Pimentel def. Ramon van Flymen 7-5, 7-5
Jonny Rigby def. Alex Alvaro 2-6, 6-2, 7-6
Players Mentioned
