NORMAL, Ill. -- Missouri State's tennis season came to end Friday morning with a 4-0 loss to Southern Illinois in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Team Tennis Championship.

"I'm happy with how we competed in singles today," head coach Mallory Weber said after a match that was destined to be closer than the final score indicated. "Even though the score was 4-0, we had won sets at Nos. 1 and 5 and were pushing hard in the remaining spots. Not the way we wanted the season to end, but certainly bright spots to build on going into next year." 

Though the second-seeded Salukis (12-11) claimed the doubles point and straight set victories in the Nos. 2, 3 and 6 matches, the No. 7 Bears (6-17) had strong showings in progress in the remaining three singles contests when the match concluded.

Freshman Alye Darter, who finished the season with a winning record in 17 matches in the top spot, split the first two sets with Xiwei Cai in the No. 1 match before trailing in the third frame. Senior Ekaterina Donetskova was up 5-4 in the second set at No. 4 singles when play ended, and Phoebe Boeschen won the only completed set in her No. 5 match.

Missouri State returns all but one player from this year's squad to its 2017-18 roster.

Match Results:
No. 1 doubles - Vitoria Beirao/Meagan Monaghan (SIU) def. Ekaterina Donetskova/Fati Khamissi (MSU) 6-1
No. 2 doubles - Xiwei Cai/Ana Sofia Cordero (SIU) def. Anelisse Torrico Moreno/Phoebe Boeschen (MSU) 6-0
No. 3 doubles - Polina Dozortseva/Athena Chrysanthou (SIU) led Alye Darter/Alexia Meyer (MSU) 5-3 (unfinished)
Order of finish: 1,2

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