Cougars Close OVC Season With Loss

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The SIUE men's tennis team closed its first season in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 7-0 loss to Tennessee Tech Sunday afternoon.

"The guys ran up against a big challenge today," said SIUE Head Coach Jason Coomer.

That challenge for the Cougars (5-12, 2-7 OVC) was the undefeated Golden Eagles (10-7, 8-0 OVC), who clinched the OVC regular season title with the win.

SIUE forced two matches to go the distance but could not come up with a single point on the afternoon.

Morten Christensen filled in at the No. 1 position and faced TTU's Syrym Abdukhalikov. Christensen battled the entire match in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss.

"Morten stepped into the top spot and played a very intelligent match, but just came up a bit short," added Coomer. "I'm really proud of how he approached the match and stuck to the game plan."

At the No. 2 spot, Nicolas Vincent and Alex Chen were as evenly matched as you get and it was Chen that pulled out the 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9) win.

"Nicolas left everything on the court," said Coomer. "You won't find another player with the determination to win greater than his. He is going to have a great career here at SIUE."

SIUE closes the 2011-12 season Thursday when Nebraska Omaha travels to Edwardsville for a 3 pm match.