Creighton University
Southern Illinois
Men's Tennis Ends Season With Loss to SIU At Valley Championships
4/24/2009 4:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis
OMAHA, Neb. -- The Southern Illinois men's tennis team defeated Creighton, 5-0, in quarterfinal round action of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The matches are being held at Koch Family Tennis Center in west Omaha, where sun was plentiful and the winds blew steadily.
"It wasn't quite the ending that seniors Jose (Guerra) Mike (Elson) wanted to go out with, losing in the first round," said CU head coach Tom Lilly. "We lost to a good team in Southern Illinois, but I thought we gave it a good effort."
Southern Illinois began the match with an 8-3 doubles match victory at the No. 1 slot, as Eric West and Felipe Villasenor defeated the Creighton pair of Gabe Nagy and Brian Ward. SIU clinched the doubles point a short time later with an 8-1 win at the No. 2 slot, where Lucas Waked and Anton Leonenko bested Creighton's Jose Guerra and Michael Elson. The No. 3 doubles match was a tightly-contested affair, with SIU's Sebastian Rubiano and Hugo Vidal owning a 5-4 lead over CU's Kyle Obermeier and James McAvoy before that match was discontinued and the teams moved on to singles action.
In singles play, Southern Illinois' Lucas Waked defeated Creighton's Gabe Nagy, 6-2, 6-1 to give the Salukis a 2-0 lead. Valley Freshman of the Year Eric West remained undefeated against league competition in singles action, claiming a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Bluejay freshman Kyle Obermeier. SIU's Anton Leonenko defeated Bryan Lube 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6 singles and all-Valley honoree Felipe Villasenor topped Jose Guerra at No. 1 singles by a 6-1, 6-3 margin.
Two matches were not completed, with the Salukis leading in both when playe was stopped. Hugo Vidal was leading James McAvoy 6-4, 4-1 at No. 4 singles while Saluki teammate Sebastian Rubiano was ahead of Brian Ward at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 1-2.
Creighton finishes the season with a record of 4-11. Southern Illinois is now 16-6, including six straight victories, and will play in Saturday's semifinals against Friday's Wichita State/Indiana State quarterfinal round victor.
Players Mentioned
