Sometimes it just isn’t the year. Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams finished their regular seasons this weekend with losses, giving each a sub-.500 season. The men’s side lost to the University of Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Okla. on Sunday 4-3, but is looking ahead to the Conference USA Tournament this weekend in Milwaukee.
Sophomore Ikaika Jobe led the Billikens with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alexei Ivanov, along with junior Lance Vodicka’s defeat of Chris Mitchell 6-7, 6-1, 10-7 and Sanjeev Paramanathan trouncing of Matt Long 6-4, 7-6.
Jobe said this year’s team performed below where they should have been.
“We had injuries that kept us all year, but we did improve from last year,” he said. Jobe also said that there were many times where they could have been the opposing team, but ended up losing anyway.
“A definite high point was coming close to beating (No. 1 seed) South Florida, as well as a good win against University of Texas at San Antonio,” Jobe said. “The low points came earlier in the season, with losses to Drake University and Illinois State.”
The men’s team is now poised for the C-USA Tournament this Wednesday, which is being hosted by Marquette.
“In the beginning of the year, we hoped to be in the top four,” Jobe said, “but now we just hope to win in the first round, and then look for an upset if everyone steps up.” The Billikens will go into the tournament as a ninth seed, and face eighth seed Charlotte in the opening round.
The women’s tennis team ended their regular season on April 3, with a loss to the University of Missouri 7-0. The Billikens entered the C-USA Tournament on April 12 in New Orleans, as the 13th seed to face No. 3 Houston.
Unfortunately, the Cougars looked to be too great a match for the Billikens, defeating the women’s team 4-1. Both Melisa Lemus and Amy O’Handley conceded their matches to Miranda Foley and Karine Urbin, respectively, and Vicki Zielinski lost to Analia Longoni 6-1, 6-0.
The sole SLU victory came when Erin Kersten defeated Sandra Blajer 6-2, 6-1.
The Billikens faced Charlotte the next day in a consolation round. Sadly, the day was, once again, not theirs. The Bills fell victim to the 49ers 0-4, thus finishing both their tournament aspirations and their season.
