March 23, 2008

Complete Results

By Beth Miller
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University women's tennis team welcomed Tennessee Tech, Sunday, for their second home match of the weekend. The Salukis fought hard against the Golden Eagles, but fell 4-3 in a close match. The two teams started playing outside in the morning, and were able to finish singles before snow moved them indoors early in the afternoon.

Sabine Tsala Mvilongo competed at No. 1 singles against Kelly Holtzhausen, falling 6-2, 6-2. At No. 2 singles, Martina Vianna Cé paired up against Mireia Cano, dropping the match 6-3, 6-3. Michela Cruise won her match against Diana Woodcock at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-3. Jessica Flannery took on Katie Barnhill at No. 4 singles, grabbing an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win. Flannery is undefeated in this weekend's home matches. Agata Skorupska battled at No. 5 singles, but was unable to hold off Kay Ngiam, falling 6-1, 6-1. Senior Amanda Taillefer rounded out singles at No. 6, defeating Evgenia Yartseva, 6-3, 6-2. The score was tied 3-3 heading into doubles, when the match was moved indoors.

It came down to the last match, with a lot of momentum coming out of singles. Tsala and Flannery teamed up at the top seed with an 8-4 win over Ngiam and Woodcock. Cruise and Cé tried to hold off Cano and Barnhill at No. 2 singles but fell 8-1. A power outage at Sports Blast caused an hour and a half delay, drawing out the doubles matches. Coming back from the interruption, the No. 3 doubles team of Taillefer and Andrea Courtney, tied their match at 7-7. But the two were unable to hold off Yartseva and Holtzhausen, falling 9-7.

"Between waiting on the rain and the power to come back on, we just had to stay prepared the whole time," said head coach Audra Nothwehr. "We stayed relatively focused through the whole thing. I was really proud of the way we played. I think this was a match where we got into some pressure situations, which help you. The more pressure situations you encounter, the better you are in the future."

Tennessee Tech 4, Southern Illinois 3

Singles
No. 1 - Kelly Holtzhausen (TTU) def. Sabine Tsala Mvilongo (SIU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 - Mireia Cano (TTU) def. Martina Vianna Cé (SIU) 6-3 6-3
No. 3 - Michela Cruise (SIU) def. Diana Woodcock (TTU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 - Jessica Flannery (SIU) def. Katie Barnhill (TTU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - Kay Ngiam (TTU) def. Agata Skorupska (SIU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 - Amanda Taillefer (SIU) def. Evgenia Tartseva (TTU) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles
No. 1 - Tsala/Flannery (SIU) def. Woodcock/Ngiam (TTU) 8-4
No. 2 - Cano/Barnhill (TTU) def. Cé/Cruise (SIU) 8-1
No. 3 - Yartseva/Holtzhausen (TTU) def. Taillefer/Courtney (SIU) 9-7