Weekly Tennis Notebook: MVC Team Championship This Weekend in Omaha

Weekly Tennis Notebook: MVC Team Championship This Weekend in Omaha
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The final weekend of regular-season Missouri Valley Conference tennis action settled the seedings and locked in the match-ups for this weekend’s 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Championships at the Koch Family Tennis Center in Omaha, Neb., hosted by Creighton University.

In the end, the preseason favorites on the men’s and women’s side were the dominant squads, blazing through the Valley season undefeated and garnering national rankings throughout the year.  Drake was a perfect 6-0 against the men’s competition, yielding just four of 36 individual matches to foes, while Wichita State was an unblemished 8-0 against all Valley challengers and won 45 out of 48 individual conference matches.

The Bulldogs captured their third consecutive outright MVC regular-season tennis championship with a 4-3 road victory over Wichita State last Saturday, marking their 22nd straight regular season win over a Valley opponent.  Drake enters this weekend’s championship as the No. 1 seed and is looking for its sixth tournament championship.

The Wichita State women clinched a perfect Valley season and the No. 1 seed in this weekend’s championship after handing Drake its first home loss this season, as the Shockers topped the Bulldogs, 6-1.  The win clinched Wichita State’s 10th regular season championship and the Shockers head to Omaha in search of their ninth tournament championship victory. 

2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference 
Tennis Championship - Men's Seedings  

Seed, Team

 MVC Record

Overall Record
1. Drake 

6-0 

13-9 
2. Southern Illinois

5-1 

15-6 
3. Wichita State 

4-2 

9-12 
4. Illinois State 

3-3 

8-11 
5. Bradley 

2-4 

8-12 
6. Indiana State 

1-5 

3-17 
7. Creighton 

0-6 

4-10 

2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference 
Tennis Championship - Women's Seedings  

Seed, Team

 MVC Record

Overall Record
1. Wichita State

8-0 

18-5
2. Indiana State

6-2 

8-11 
3. Southern Illinois

5-3 

16-7 
4. Illinois State 

5-3 

13-9 
5. Drake 

5-3 

11-11 
6. Evansville 

3-5 

10-9 
7. UNI

3-5 

14-10 
8. Creighton 

1-7 

13-9 
9. Bradley 

0-8 

8-13 
 
This week’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Players of the Week are Mauricio Ballivian of Drake and Anna Morgina of Indiana State.

State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Mauricio Ballivian, So., Drake, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Sophomore Mauricio Ballivian capped a big week for Drake in registering a pair of victories in Drake's 4-3 road victory over Wichita State last Saturday.  His wins allowed the Bulldogs to claim their third consecutive regular season MVC title.  He paired with senior Ivan Mendoza to account for Drake's lone doubles victory against the Shockers as the duo wrapped a 5-1 conference campaign with an 8-2 decision over Matt Teivans and Scott McCormick.  In singles, Ballivian downed Adrian Chermaci, 7-5, 6-1, at the No. 2 position to complete an undefeated MVC slate in singles play.  He has now won his last seven singles tilts and nine of the last 10 overall.  In his career, Ballivian has yet to drop a regular season match to a league opponent in singles action and owns a 22-2 combined singles/doubles mark in league play.  Ballivian has posted a 41-12 combined singles/doubles ledger this season, including a team-best
21-9 mark in doubles.

Other Notable Performances:  Xavier Riart-Ferrer, Illinois State; Eric West, Southern Illinois.

State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Anna Morgina, Fr., Indiana State, Moscow, Russia
Freshman Anna Morgina capped the regular season with a perfect 6-0 record at No. 2 singles.  Morgina finished her first Missouri Valley Conference campaign with wins over Evansville’s Ashton Schwerin (6-2, 3-6, 6-3) and Southern Illinois’ Vishakha Sheoran (6-1, 6-3) and then rallied to top Minnesota’s Tijana Koprivica (6-2, 5-7, 10-8) in the regular season finale, coming back to score the final six points of the tie-breaker to post the win.  She won her last five matches and nine of her last 10 in finishing the spring season at 16-3 overall with a 7-1 record in the Valley.  She was 13-1 at No. 2 singles and 3-2 at No. 1 singles. 

At No. 2 doubles, Morgina and partner junior Sofya Lifanova was an 8-4 winner over Ashton Schwerin and Pin Sorensen of Evansville, an 8-4 victor over Vishakha Sheoran and Martina Vianna Ce of Southern Illinois, and an 8-3 winner over Alex Seaton and Magdalena Wiecha of Minnesota.  The Sycamore duo won their last seven matches and nine of their last 10 in finishing the regular season with a 13-5 record and 7-1 mark in the Valley.  The duo was 13-3 at No. 2 doubles while playing twice at No. 1 doubles, losing both.

Others Notable Performances:  Kate Chybowski, Evansville; Natalia Lech, Illinois State; Torrie Browning, Wichita State.