CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Missouri State freshman Alye Darter improved her No. 1 singles record to 9-6 on the season Saturday at Southern Illinois, but the Salukis claimed the remaining singles matches and a doubles sweep for a 6-1 win in SIU's final home tennis match in program history.

"We competed much better today in both singles and doubles," MSU head coach Mallory Weber said after the team's second match of the weekend. "We fought hard and definitely had opportunities, which is promising because SIU is a quality team." 

After the Salukis (9-11, 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference) took the early lead with victories in all three doubles contests, Darter evened the score at 1-1 thanks to a dominating 6-2, 6-2 win over Ana Sofia Cordero in the No. 1 match. The Bears (6-14, 1-4) were unable to convert from there, with SIU taking the bottom five matches in the lineup.

MSU returns home to Cooper Tennis Complex for its final two matches of the regular season, taking on Illinois State at 10 a.m. Friday, April 21, and hosting Bradley at the same time on Sunday.

Match Results:
No. 1 doubles - Xiwei Cai/Ana Sofia Cordero (SIU) def. Ekaterina Donetskova/Fati Khamissi (MSU) 6-2
No. 2 doubles - Vitoria Beirao/Meagan Monoghan (SIU) def. Anelisse Torrico Moreno/Phoebe Boeschen (MSU) 7-6
No. 3 doubles - Polina Dozortseva/Athena Chrysanthou (SIU) def. Alye Darter/Alexia Meyer (MSU) 6-3
Order of finish: 1,3,2

No. 1 singles - Alye Darter (MSU) def. Ana Sofia Cordero (SIU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 singles - Xiwei Cai (SIU) def. Fati Khamissi (MSU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 singles - Athena Chrysanthou (SIU) def. Anelisse Torrico Moreno (MSU) 4-6, 6-1, 10-5
No. 4 singles - Meagan Monoghan (SIU) def. Phoebe Boeschen (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 singles - Polina Dozortseva (SIU) def. Abbey Belote (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 singles - Vitoria Beirao (SIU) def. Alexia Meyer (MSU) 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 1,5,6,2,4,3