Billikens don’t match up too well against tigers, especially on the tennis court.
Before making early exits in last weekend’s Conference-USA tennis tournaments, the men’s and women’s tennis squads each fell victim to the Memphis Tigers in the first round of conference play.
“Memphis was a better team than we were in both the men’s and women’s tournament,” said tennis coach Derek Mills.
“They are a good team with eight full-scholarship players. They have a lot of talent and they just put it to us.
“But we gave a good effort and played well,” Mills said.
After winning eight of their last 12 matches, the ninth-seeded Billikens took their hot hand into Hattiesburg, Miss. the site of the women’s tournament.
However, eighth-seeded Memphis was too much for the Bills, as they were defeated 4-0. SLU’s top-seed, Jayasree Auruvilla, was defeated in straight sets by Christina Ladyman of Memphis 6-0, 6-1.
When Friday came around however, the women’s squad was able to put together a victorious effort against 12th-seeded UNC-Charlotte.
Junior Julie Siemers, playing as the 2nd-seed for the Bills, won 6-1, 6-0 as she improved her individual record to 18-3.
The Billikens received other convincing wins from sophomores Vicki Zielinski and Erin Kersten 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-2 respectively against the 49ers.
With Friday’s victory, SLU made its way to Saturday’s round of the back/draw-bracket where they faced 11th-seeded Southern Mississippi.
The Eagles upended the Billikens as they fell to a 4-2 defeat. Siemers and fourth-seeded senior Ingrid Habony, in her last match as a Billiken, were SLU’s only victorious players.
Southern Mississippi’s Jackie Prew shut down Kuruvilla 6-2, 6-4 in the top-seeded matchup.
Marie Lindberg sealed the Eagles’ victory in a three-set win over Zielinski 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).
This year’s tournament finish was still an improvement for SLU’s women who had an improved season record of 10-11.
“We made a great turnaround from last year. We played really well.
“We finished in last place a year ago. This year we finished 10th. That is an improvement,” Mills said.
“We still would have liked to finish ninth, though,” Mills said.
“I feel like we should have beaten Southern Miss. We played to our ability, but it is just disappointing to lose that last game to them. I think we could have done better,” Mills said.
Mills remains optimistic for the Billiken squad next year, which starts Sept. 14 at the Billiken Tennis Complex on campus with the Billiken Fall Classic.
“We are really looking forward to having a great season next year,” Mills said.
“I feel that we can climb the Conference USA ladder and improve on this year,” Mills said.
For the men’s tennis team, climbing the conference ladder has proved to be a genuinely hard task, especially when seeded 10th in the Conference USA tournament.
Nevertheless, the Bills faced seventh-seeded Memphis in the first round held in New Orleans. The Bills were defeated 4-0 in Thursday’s matchup.
Freshman Thomas Kwong fell 6-2, 6-1 to Joe Schmulian of Memphis while sophomore Michael Hoosien came across the same trouble against the Tigers, Alistair Todd as he was defeated 6-2, 6-0.
Unfortunately for SLU, freshmen Lance Vodicka and Taylor Curran had their matches postponed because the overall outcome had already been decided.
On the backside of the men’s bracket, the Bills were forced to play rival Marquette on Friday.
SLU was defeated 4-1 by the Golden Eagles, leaving their overall record at 8-12.
The only bright spot of the tournament for the Billikens was the superior play of Vodicka who defeated Peter Mojzis of Marquette 6-3, 6-1 in the top-seeded matchup.
“Lance had another really good match. It is a shame he had one of his matches postponed,” Mills said.
“His play will help the team stay positive for next year. We have about five new guys coming in and hopefully we can improve on this year’s season. We finished last for the second straight year.
“That was disappointing, but we have a good number of walk-ons so hopefully we can grow into a better team next year,” Mills said.
