MACOMB, Ill. -
One week after opening the Spring season at different sites, the Western
Illinois men's and women's tennis squads will travel together to Omaha, Neb.
for dual matches against Creighton Saturday (Jan. 29) at 7 p.m.
Last
weekend, Western Illinois tennis opened the spring season with three wins out
of four matches. The men's squad (2-0) played back-to-back matches on Sunday (Jan.
23) and defeated St. Francis 7-2 before taking down Chicago State by a score of
7-0.
Meanwhile,
the women's squad (1-1) split two decisions in Chicago, dropping a 7-0 decision to
No. 35 DePaul on Saturday (Jan. 22) before downing Chicago State by a 4-3 score
on Sunday (Jan. 23) afternoon.
In
men's singles action, Jeff Cote (No. 1), Alejandro Buceta (No. 3), Mandela
Shepard (No. 4), Francisco Ortiz (No. 5) and Jim Capalbo (No. 6) all went 2-0
on Sunday, while Patrick Hammers won in three sets at the No. 2 spot against
Chicago State. The doubles teams of Cote/Hammers (No. 1) and Buceta/Ben Yue
(No. 3) went 2-0, while Ortiz/Shepard picked up a win at the No. 2 spot against
Chicago State.
After
dropping a match to DePaul on Saturday, the women fared better on Sunday and
picked up their first win of the young season over Chicago State in a match
that came down to the wire.
In
singles play at Chicago State, the Leathernecks recorded three victories,
including junior Claire Griffin at the No. 4 spot in three-set thrilling
fashion, while senior Melissa Kaufmann (No. 5) and freshman Kara Chicoine (No.
6) picked up victories by default. Meanwhile, Griffin/Amy Unzicker won at the
No. 2 doubles spot and the duo of Kaufmann/Madison Zimmerman won by default
at No. 3 doubles.
Last
season, the women dropped a 7-0 decision and the men fell 6-1 when the
Leathernecks played at Creighton on Feb. 27, 2010. Alejandro Buceta was
victorious at No. 6 singles over Sean Mathison, 6-3, 7-6.
The
Bluejay women, who are opening the season Saturday, went 11-10 last season and
1-6 in the Missouri Valley. Meanwhile, the Bluejay men went 10-7 last season, 1-4
in the Missouri Valley and recently finished play at the three-day MVC
Individual Championships last Sunday (Jan. 23). Three players brought home
consolation bracket crowns, with Billy Paluch winning Flight 1 consolation, Kyle
Obermeier winning Flight 3 consolation and Ryan Norman victorious in the Flight
6 singles consolation.
