Feb. 4, 2012

Results

By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Southern Illinois men's tennis team split a twin bill Saturday with Purdue and Butler, falling to the Boilermakers, 7-0, and bouncing back against the Bulldogs, 5-2.

Match One: No. 67 Purdue - 7, Southern Illinois - 0

Results

The Salukis only managed to grab one victory from the 67th-ranked Boilermakers en route to the sweep. The 42nd-ranked doubles duo of Brandon Florez and Martijn Admiraal defeated Purdue's top doubles tandem of Aaron Dujovne and Szymon Tatarczyk, 8-6. Just last week, Dujovne and Tatarczyk took down Princeton's No. 11 ranked doubles team of Matt Siow and Matt Spindler.

The Salukis almost managed to win the doubles point, as juniors Badr Cherradi and Jordan Snyder took their match against Mark Kovacs and Diego Acosta into the tiebreak before falling, 9-8 (7-1).

"Brandon and Martijn continued to play good doubles, but it was hard to give up the doubles point against a ranked team since we were so close," Head Coach Dann Nelson said.

Cherradi's recent stiff singles competition didn't get any easier Saturday. The Lyon, France, native fell at No. 1 singles in his first dual match at Southern to No. 105 Mark Kovacs, 6-2, 6-1. Kovacs is the fourth nationally ranked player he's faced this season and the third he's squared off against in the last two weeks alone.

With the exception of junior Orhan Spahic, the Salukis weren't able to win more than four games against the Boilermakers in singles. Spahic was also the only Saluki to go into a third set, losing to Purdue's Krisztian Krocsko, 3-6, 7-5, 0-1 (4-10).

"We know what we need to do in practice to improve our game in order to compete better against future ranked teams," Nelson said.

Singles
1. #105 Mark Kovacs (PUR) def. Badr Cherradi (SIU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Szymon Tatarczyk (PUR) def. Brandon Florez (SIU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Aaron Dujovne (PUR) def. Martijn Admiraal (SIU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Diego Acosta (PUR) def. Rafael Cuadrillero (SIU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Krisztian Krocsko (PUR) def. Orhan Spahic (SIU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4)
6. Evan Hawkins (PUR) def. Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) 6-3, 6-1

Doubles
1. #42 Brandon Florez/Martijn Admiraal (SIU) def. Aaron Dujovne/Szymon Tatarczyk (PUR) 8-6
2. Krisztian Krocsko/Pawel Poziomski (PUR) def. Szymon Opieczonek/Orhan Spahic (SIU) 8-2
3. Mark Kovacs/Diego Acosta (PUR) def. Badr Cherradi/Jordan Snyder (SIU) 9-8 (7-1)

Match Two: Southern Illinois - 5, Butler - 2

Results

The Salukis bounced back in the afternoon against the Bulldogs, taking the doubles point and four of six singles bouts.

The top four singles matches belonged to Salukis, with only one of those going into three sets. Badr Cherradi started off slow against Butler's Tommy Marx, but eventually bounced back and won, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Also in his first dual match for the Salukis was senior Stanislas Rodier, who defeated Zach Ervin, 6-4, 6-3. Rounding out Saluki singles wins were Brandon Florez and Martijn Admiraal, who won 6-4, 6-3, and 6-4, 6-4, respectively.

In doubles, Southern took Nos. 2 and 3 for the match point. No. 42 Saluki duo of Florez and Admiraal stayed hot at No. 2, taking care of business against Zach Ervin and Sam O'Neill, 8-2. Since they have been ranked, Florez and Admiraal have only lost one match, coming at the MVC Individuals against Illinois State's Willi Peter and Jordan Badenko.

"It was good to bounce back in doubles after the loss this morning," Nelson said. "Our top four guys in singles played really hard and competed really well."

Singles
1. Badr Cherradi (SIU) def. Tommy Marx (BUT) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. Stanislas Rodier (SIU) def. Zach Ervin (BUT) 6-4, 6-3
3. Brandon Florez (SIU) def. Stephen McLoughlin (BUT) 6-4, 6-3
4. Martijn Admiraal (SIU) def. Billy Weldon (BUT) 6-4, 6-4
5. Pulok Bhattacharya (BUT) def. Rafael Cuadrillero (SIU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
6. Sam O'Neill (BUT) def. Orhan Spahic (SIU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)

Doubles
1. Austin Woldmoe/Billy Weldon (BUT) def. Badr Cherradi/Stanislas Rodier (SIU) 8-1
2. #42 Martijn Admiraal/Brandon Florez (SIU) def. Zach Ervin/Sam O'Neill (BUT) 8-2
3. Orhan Spahic/Szymon Opieczonek (SIU) def. Stephen McLoughlin/Ruben Geeraert (BUT) 8-4