Peoria, Ill.?Five hours and thirty-three minutes after the start of Sunday's Missouri Valley Conference women's tennis match, Southern Illinois exited with its first conference win while the Braves dropped their second straight 4-3 home decision of the weekend and fifth in a row.

Things started well enough for the Braves on Senior Day as the lone Bradley senior, Ashley Morris (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) teamed with Elise Montrose (Portland, Ore./Sunset) to drop SIU's Zuzana Palovic and Maria Blanco, 8-3, at No. 1 doubles.

Morris got the Braves off to a rousing start in her home finale, slamming home the first point on an overhead off an errant return of Montrose's serve.  The Bradley senior was aided by deft volleying from Montrose all match long and was able to serve out the match to run her school-record doubles wins total to 53 and push her combined total to 103 wins for her career.

Sophomore Jess Sampias (Chatham, Ill./Glenwood) and freshman Erin Krubeck (Boulder, Colo./Fairview) wrapped up the doubles point with an 8-2 route of Kathleen Maher and Laura Bredniak at No. 3 doubles.

Junior Teri Chan (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) and freshman Kim Braun (Racine, Wis./The Prairie School) completed the Bradley doubles sweep win a hard-fought 8-7 (2) win at No. 2.

In singles action, the Braves got off to a hot start as Sampias wiped out Kathleen Maher in 30 minutes, winning 6-0, 6-0 over the Saluki freshman.

Southern Illinois would draw the team score to 2-1 with Amanda Taillefer's 6-3, 6-1 win over Kim Braun at No. 4 singles.

Teri Chan would stretch the Bradley lead to 3-1 with another steady win at No. 3 singles.  Chan's 6-2, 6-1 win over Zoya Honarmand was her team-best 18^th win on the season and moves her into a tie for third place on Bradley's all-time singles wins list with 53.

Southern Illinois wins at the top two spots tied the match at three and left the deciding point to the Erin Krubeck and Southern's Laura Bredniak at No. 5.

The deciding match last better than four and a half hours, featured three tiebreak sets and 28 point third-set tiebreak.

Krubeck and Bredniak traded long rallies all day long, with each player coming up with answer after answer to the other's challenges. 

Krubeck claimed the first set tiebreaker 7-5 after trading staying even throughout the set and looked to be in position to hold off Bredniak, leading 4-1 in the second, until the Saluki sophomore grabbed the momentum and forced a second set tiebreaker.  Bredniak kept the momentum in the breaker, winning 7-1 to force the deciding set.

Neither player would give an inch in the final stanza, until Krubeck broke serve to get to 6-5, only to see Bredniak answer and push the match to the inevitable.

Rally after rally produced high drama tennis that pushed the scoring into double digits as the players switched ends at 12-all.  The players exchanged traded points to go 13-all when Bredniak held her serve and closed the net to nab the win, 15-13.

The loss drops the Braves to 5-13, 1-8 in MVC play.

The Braves will now get set to tackle the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Omaha, Neb. beginning Thursday. 

Tennis Match Results

Southern Illinois vs Braves

4/23/2006 at Peoria, Ill.

Southern Illinois 4, Braves 3

 Singles competition

1. Maria Blanco (SIU) def. Ashley Morris (BU) 6-1, 6-2

2. Zuzana Palovic (SIU) def. Elise Montrose (BU) 6-4, 6-4

3. Teri Chan (BU) def. Zoya Honarmand (SIU) 6-2, 6-1

4. Amanda Taillefer (SIU) def. Kim Braun (BU) 6-3, 6-1

5. Laura Bredniak (SIU) def. Erin Krubeck (BU) 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (15-13)

6. Jess Sampias (BU) def. Kathleen Maher (SIU) 6-0, 6-0

 Doubles competition

1. Ashley Morris/Elise Montrose (BU) def. Zuzana Palovic/Maria Blanco (SIU) 8-3

2. Teri Chan/Kim Braun (BU) def. Zoya Honarmand/Amanda Taillefer (SIU) 8-7 (7-2)

3. Jess Sampias/Erin Krubeck (BU) def. Kathleen Maher/Laura Bredniak (SIU) 8-2

Match Notes:

Southern Illinois 4-14, 1-8 MVC

Braves 5-13, 1-8 MVC

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,4,3,1,2,5)