Goals are made to be reached. For the Saint Louis University tennis teams, their goals have been surpassed.
And the season isn’t even over yet.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have significantly improved on their rather dismal records from last season by already posting more wins and playing much more confidently. This past weekend, the Billiken teams battled the uncomfortably cold weather as they each came away with victories, as they gear up for important matches against rivals in the next few days.
The women posted their seventh straight victory on Saturday with a 4-1 clobbering of the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The win equalizes the ladies record at 7-7 and marks a complete turnaround from their dismal 0-7 start.
“We got our confidence back over Spring Break, and we are really playing well. Confidence is such a key in most sports. For us, it is imperative. We have already bettered our record from last year, and that was one of our main goals.
“They are just playing good tennis right now,” said coach Derek Mills.
It was a team effort on the Billikens part against the Panthers. Junior Julie Siemers, playing in the second spot, improved her personal record to 12-3 overall while helping her team with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 rout over Caryn Hague of Eastern Illinois.
“Julie really played a convincing match. She controlled her opponent the whole set. She has really been playing well,” Mills said.
Sophomore Vicki Zielinski posted another victorious set for the Billikens with a win in the No. 3 slot.
Sophomore Erin Kersten defeated Angie Russel 6-0, 6-0 capping an impressive victory for SLU. The Bills’ doubles teams were unstoppable, winning all three doubles sets.
The Billikens will prepare to delve into their final stretch as they take on two tough teams who’ve had their number over the past few years. SLU will host rival Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on Friday, March 30 at 4 p.m. before facing the Sycamores of Indiana State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 31.
“SIU has beaten us the last couple of years. However, we are pretty evenly talented this year. We both lost to Memphis 4-3, so we are pretty equal. It would be really nice to take one from them this weekend,” Mills said.
“We will have to play really well, but I think we have it in us. We have been playing well lately. If we keep it up we could come away with a win. Hopefully, we can do the same to Indiana State on Saturday,” Mills said.
The men’s team suffered a tough 4-1 loss at Eastern Illinois on Saturday, but not before posting an impressive 4-2 win over Northwest Missouri State on Friday. Lance Vodicka, Taylor Curran and Sanjeev Paramanathan all posted victorious sets over the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State. The duos of Vodicka and Thomas Kwong, and Eric Sasser and Paramanathan each posted victories in doubles matches.
The Billikens’ record was pushed to 5-7 for the season improving on their dismal three-win season last year. SLU was forced to struggle with cold weather over the weekend and, according to Mills, it really had its effect on the Billiken players.
“The weather was ridiculously cold. It definitely was not conducive to our abilities. We didn’t play as well as we could against a very good team because it was just so could,” Mills said.
“I felt it should have been closer, but we were just confined because of the temperature. I,m not taking away from Eastern though; they were a good team,” Mills said.
The freshman sensation Vodicka was the lone bright spot in the loss to Eastern Illinois. He defeated their No. 1 seed, Blazej Tondel 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, as he posted the only winning set for SLU.
“Lance is the man. He is awesome. He never gives up, even when he is down. He plays so well. He will be such a great player in the future; you can just tell by what he does at practice and in the games,” Mills said.
