Salukis fall short in first two matches of 2017

DANVILLE, ILL. - The Southern Illinois University women's tennis team fell in both matches this weekend, to start their 2017 campaign. SIU lost to Arkansas late last night, 6-1, and lost today to in state opponent, Eastern Illinois, 5-2.

The weekend started at 7 p.m. Saturday night for the Salukis. The late night matchup against Arkansas started off slow for SIU, dropping two of three doubles matches. Polina Dozortseva and Tereza Klocova picked up Southern's doubles victory, winning at the No. 3 slot, 6-3. The two upperclassman are now 6-1 as a doubles pair.

SIU's struggles continued to singles play, picking up only one win there as well. The Salukis constantly had to play catch up, trying to work their way out of early deficits. SIU's lone win came from Xiwei Cai, as she defeated Sasha Shkorupeieva, 6-4, 6-3, at the No. 2 spot.

"I'm happy with how we competed for our first match out," SIU head coach Audra Anderson said. "We cam out with a bang in doubles but couldn't hold the intensity throughout the whole set. In singles we started out kind of slow but we found our competitiveness in the 2nd sets. It's nice to have a strong competitive match in the first week because it really shows you want you need to work on as the season moves forward."

After their match had concluded the Salukis packed up and traveled three hours across the state for their match against Eastern Illinois in Danville, Ill. The Salukis showed signs of fatigue early in doubles play, but quickly turned things around. After dropping the No. 1 doubles match, SIU responded with a win of their own at the No. 3 doubles spot. Yana Golovkina and Athena Chrysanthou took down Shelby Anderson and Srishti Slavia, 7-5. The doubles point came down to the outcome at the No. 2 doubles match, and SIU fell 7-6.

Heading into singles play down 1-0, SIU was stilling feeling the effects of the close loss in doubles. The Salukis dropped two matches before getting their first win at the No. 2 singles slot. Cai battled with EIU's Grace Summers for a three set victory, making the overall score EIU 3, SIU 1. The final three matches favored Eastern, winning two of them to seal their victory. The Salukis got some late match help with Beirao's win at the No. 5 spot, but it was too late. After one weekend only two Salukis finished with a winning record in singles play.

"This loss against EIU was a tough one for us," Anderson said. " We are competing well, but not yet at the top of our games. We were slow getting started in singles so that made those sets close because we were playing catch up. We can play much better than this, but it just wasn't there today."

Southern will have some time off before their next match on Feb. 12 against Central Arkansas.

SIU vs. Arkansas
Singles
1. Hudson (UA) def. Cordero (SIU) 6-2, 6-4
2. Cai (SIU) def. Shkorupeieva (UA) 6-4, 6-3
3. Jeanjean (UA) def. Klocova (SIU) 6-4, 6-1
4. Arakawa (UA) def. Golovkina (SIU) 6-0, 6-1
5. Cepelyte (UA) def. Monaghan (SIU) 6-1, 7-5
6. Jennings (UA) def. Chrysanthou (SIU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3

Doubles
1. Hudson/Jeanjean (UA) def. Cai/Cordero (SIU) 6-3
2. Cepelyte/Arakawa (UA) def. Beirao/Monaghan (SIU) 6-4
3. Dozortseva/Klocova (SIU) def. Jennings/Shkorupeieva (UA) 6-3

SIU vs. Eastern Illinois
Singles
1. Iden (EIU) def. Cordero (SIU) 6-3, 7-5
2. Cai (SIU) def. Summers (EIU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
3. Cliffe (EIU) def. Klocova (SIU) 6-1, 2-6, 6-0
4. Slaria (EIU) def. Monaghan (SIU) 6-3, 6-7, 6-1
5. Beirao (SIU) def. Moshteva (EIU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Stadalninkaite (EIU) def. Dozortseva (SIU) 6-7, 7-5, 10-5

Doubles
1. Iden/Cliffe (EIU) def. Cai/Cordero (SIU) 6-3
2. Summers/Stadalninkaite (EIU) def. Monaghan/Beirao (SIU) 7-6
3. Golovkina/Chrysanthou (SIU) def. Anderson/Slavia (EIU) 7-5

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Players Mentioned

Xiwei Cai

Athena Chrysanthou

Yana Golovkina

Tereza Klocova

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