Cougar tennis plays GLVC's best

Kumar Bhooshan
Sports Editor

The men's tennis team will take its two-game winning streak on the road this week to face the top-seeded team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Cougars, who started the season 0-6 overall, have found themselves on a two-game winning streak after defeating conference opponents Lewis University and St. Joseph's College Friday and Saturday.

With those two GLVC wins, the team finds itself perfect in the conference going into its match Saturday against the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind.

The Screaming Eagles continue to fly high, trying to improve their back-to-back GLVC championships and add to their 31 consecutive wins in the conference.

Southern Indiana improved its record to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in the GLVC after posting a convincing win over Bellarmine College 6-2.

Since 1998 the Screaming Eagles has won 39 of the 40 dual meets it has participated in.

Senior Jeremy Richie is one reason for the success of the Screaming Eagles.

With his singles win against Bellarmine, Richie improved his individual conference singles record to 30-0 in the GLVC.

He has also lost only three times in doubles, holding a 14-3 record, for an overall conference-winning percentage of .953 over his four years as a Screaming Eagle. So far this year, Richie is 2-0 in the GLVC.

In the fall season, he went 3-2 overall and 5-1 with partner Chris Crawford.

Crawford, a junior, went 6-1 in the fall in singles play and, with Richie, claimed the White Division in the GLVC tournament.

The Cougars will be facing a Screaming Eagles team that has yet to lose a singles match in the GLVC, with a total team record of 11-0 so far this season.

SIUE will try to improve on its winning streak that featured a 2-0 record by David Mims.

Mims has posted a 4-6 singles record overall this season and has recorded a 3-7 overall doubles record with partner Chris Welkner. Mims and Welkner are 2-0 in the GLVC this year.

Welkner is 1-1 in the conference and 3-6 overall. Also playing well is the doubles team of Francisco Perez and Jason Zemler that has posted a 2-0 record in the GLVC.

This will be the third of six straight conference matches for the Cougars. The conference matches end March 31.

Their next match will be Tuesday at Quincy University.