The Saint Louis University men’s and women’s tennis teams turned in strong performances in their respective tournaments over the past few weeks, including River Forest f rom Sept. 16-18, the men’s tennis team was competing in the River Forest Clay Court Invitational. Alongside the Billikens, the other invited collegiate tennis teams came from the University of Detroit, South Dakota State, Youngstown State, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Northern Illinois and DePaul.
Then, from Sept. 23-25, the women’s tennis team competed in the Bradley Invitational. The other collegiate athletes present at the Bradley Invitational hailed from Chicago State, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Illinois State, DePaul and Bradley.
The men’s team turned in a series of strong performances at the River Forest Clay Court Invitational. Junior Justin Nogalski tied for first in Flight 7 singles, while sophomore Oscar Pachon placed second in Flight 6 singles. Both Nogalski and Pachon proved to be some of Saint Louis University’s strongest performers at the River Forest Clay Court Invitational.
Meanwhile, other strong performances in the tournament came in the doubles competitions. The pair of junior David Ferragut and junior Juan Calero placed third in Flight 1 doubles.
The women’s team managed to provide a dominating performance at the Bradley Invitational. The Billikens were led by senior Eleonore Tchakarova, who won the Flight 1 singles championship. She lost only one set on the way to her strong showing at the Bradley Invitational.
Eleonore Tchakarova was joined by her twin sister, Verginie Tchakarova, on the court for the doubles championship. The duo pulled out a win in the doubles championship, defeating the pairs from Chicago State, DePaul and Western Illinois. The other doubles pairing, of Ally McKenzie and Cassie McKenzie, won two out of their three matches in the doubles tournament.
Finally, on Sept. 25, the men’s and women’s tennis teams competed against Missouri Baptist University at Dwight Davis Tennis Center. SLU provided an outstanding performance against Missouri Baptist. Both the men’s and women’s teams posted perfect 7-0 records to defeat Missouri Baptist. The competition was the only dual meet of the season for the Billikens.
Next up for both tennis teams will be the ITA Central Region Championships, which will take place in Stillwater, Okla. The women’s team will compete in the championships from Oct. 13 through Oct. 17, while the men’s team will compete from Oct. 20 through Oct. 24.
