The University of Evansville tennis team defeated Southern Illinois 6-1 to open Missouri Valley Conference play on Thursday.  The Purple Aces took all six singles matches to secure the victory.  Evansville improved to 8-4 after Thursday's win.  The Salukis are 7-9.  Thursday's match was the first in league play for both teams.

"We didn't play as well as we could have at doubles, but we came out and played great at singles," said UE head coach Nick Mueller.  "It's always a good feeling to start off conference play with a win, especially over such a good team in SIU."

The Aces are back in action Friday, April 8 when they host Creighton at 2:00 CDT.

Evansville 6, Southern Illinois 1

SINGLES
1. Kate Chybowski (UE) def. Melanie Delsalt (SIU) 6-4, 6-4
2. Dora Kotsiou (UE) def. Anita Lee (SIU) 6-0, 6-1
3.Aleksandra Dzakula (UE) def. Jennifer Dien (SIU) 6-1, 4-6, 10-6 (Super Tiebreaker)
4. Pin Sorensen (UE) def. Korey Love (SIU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Carolyn Caire (UE) def. Anastacia Simons (SIU) 0-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Kelsey Costales (UE) def. Vishakha Sheoran (SIU) by default.

DOUBLES
1. Melanie Delsalt / Jennifer Dien (SIU) def Kate Chybowski / Dora Kotsiou (UE) 8-4
2. Aleksandra Dzakula / Pin Sorensen (UE) def. Korey Love / Anastacia Simons (SIU) 8-6
3. Vishakha Sheoran / Anita Lee (SIU) def. Carolyn Caire / Jessica Raatz (UE) 7-4