March 31, 2009

St. Louis, Mo.-State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week: Felipe Villasenor, Sr., Southern Illinois, Santiago, Chile (College of the Desert) Senior Felipe Villasenor posted a perfect 8-0 record in four home matches for the Salukis last week. Villasenor has not dropped a match since Mar. 13.

In singles action, Villasenor took down IUPIU's Dan Klingenberg (6-1, 6-1), UT-Martin's Alfredo Krywacz (6-1, 6-1), Northern Illinois' Shaun Stewart (6-4, 7-5) and Illinois-Chicago's Bastian Harbo (4-6, 6-1, 6-4), all at the No. 2 position.

In doubles play, Villasenor paired with teammate Eric West to top Taylor Tunis/Jorge Yunes of IUPUI (8-6), Matthew Harris/Shuntaro Tsukiyama of UT-Martin (8-0), Jurica Grubisic/Alfonso Monroy of Northern Illinois (8-2) and Danny Wilson/Scott Shepardson of Illinois-Chicago (8-3).

Last week in Missouri Valley Conference tennis action, five league matches shook up the non-conference schedule on the women's side. Indiana State was a double winner, tallying victories over Illinois State (4-3) and Bradley (5-2), while Southern Illinois took down Evansville (5-2), Drake topped UNI (6-1) and Illinois State defeated Bradley (7-0).

In women's non-conference action, Creighton recorded wins over UMKC (5-2) and South Dakota (7-0), tying a school record ninth-straight match victory. The Bluejays will go for their record 10th-straight win this afternoon, taking on cross-town rival Nebraska-Omaha. The No. 66-ranked Wichita State Shockers hosted the Via Christi Collegiate Classic Tournament, taking on No. 24 SMU, No. 59 Nevada and Louisville. The Shockers topped Louisville (4-0), but fell to the Wolfpack (4-1) and the Mustangs (4-0).

In men's action, just five total matches were played last week. Indiana State fell to Purdue in a mid-week match (7-0), but bounced back to win their first match of the season, topping visiting Dayton (5-2) on Friday. Southern Illinois tallied a trio of home-court victories, taking down UT-Martin (6-1), Northern Illinois (5-2) and Illinois-Chicago (5-2).

In women's action, Creighton welcomes Illinois State and Indiana State, while Drake hosts Evansville and Southern Illinois. The Panthers of UNI greet Evansville and Southern Illinois, while the Shockers welcome the Braves, Redbirds and Sycamores to Wichita, Kan.

In the latest ITA rankings (Mar. 31), the Wichita State fell five spots to the No. 71 position, while the Saluki tandem of Martina Ce and Vishakha Sheoran are currently ranked No. 68 in women's doubles.

This week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Athletes of the Week are Southern Illinois' Felipe Villasenor and Drake's Veronika Leszayova.