Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams are looking to bounce back this week after some tough losses last week.

The Billiken men (7-5 overall) lost 6-1 against Southern Illinois last Friday. “It was pretty disappointing,” said James MacArthur, No.2 singles. “We came in with a lot of confidence and wanted to make a statement.”

MacArthur lost a tough singles match that came down to a super-tiebreaker. His doubles partner, Ken Nordheim, managed to notch the only point for the Billikens; claiming a victory at No. 1 singles.

The loss certainly cannot be attributed to a lack of effort, MacArthur said. “Everyone left everything out on the court, that’s all you can really ask for. It just wasn’t meant to be this year.”

Weather permitting, the men will host the Flames of Illinois-Chicago this Friday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park and then do battle with conference foe Dayton on Saturday.

The men’s team is being certain not to look past Illinois-Chicago in favor of the conference match the next day. “There another one of the really great programs on the rise in this area,” MacArthur said.

The Flames, winners of their last six matches, have been living up to their name as of late and come into St. Louis on a hot streak. Illinois-Chicago (7-4 overall), like SLU, has a number of international players on its roster. “They actually have three Norwegians. Kenny [Nordheim] and I know all of them, so this will kind of be a friendly international grudge match,” MacArthur said of his next opponents.

As for the women’s side, they will travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Thursday to take on Southeast Missouri State . The lady Billikens are coming off a narrow loss last Sunday to Illinois State. The team founds itself on the short side of a 4-3 decision in that match.

The women’s team (4-9 overall) will then head to nearby Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on Friday.