T-Birds Host Dixie State Tuesday, Visit Rebels Thursday For Season Finale'

Southern Utah’s women’s tennis team wraps ups its 2007 season this week as the team will play a pair of matches against Dixie State. The teams square off in Cedar City on Tuesday when the Thunderbirds host the Rebels at the Thunderbird Courts then both squads will wrap up their 2007 seasons Thursday in St. George, Utah.

The Cedar City match – which was originally scheduled for April 12, but was postponed because of weather concerns – will begin at 3:30 p.m. while the match in St. George will begin at 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday's match will mark the third meeting between the two schools this season, with SUU taking the first two, 6-1 and 7-0, in St. George.

The Thunderbirds (8-14) have gone 1-4 in the last 10 days, with a 1-3 finish at its Mid-Continent Conference cluster April 5-7 in Las Vegas, Nev., and a 3-4 home loss to Idaho State Monday, April 9.

Dixie State (0-12) is in its first season of competition at the NCAA Division II level. The Rebels have been off since March 20 when they lost a 7-0 decision to the University of Utah.

Head Coach Lenny Lee is in his 14th season as SUU’s head coach. He has led the Thunderbirds since the University reinstated the program in 1994, compiling a 42-32 (.568) Mid-Continent Conference regular-season record, including a 5-3 mark last season when the team finished fourth. Lee has coached tennis for 24 years, with stints at Montgomery County (PA) Community College, Eastern University (PA) and The College of New Jersey prior to his tenure at SUU. He picked up his 150th career win March 7, 2004 vs. Bradley and his career coaching mark now stands at 186-185 (.501).

Last Time Out: – Idaho State won the doubles point and three of six singles matches Monday morning to upset Southern Utah for the second time this season, 4-3.

Altough Carmen Blanco and Shanna Docherty were able to win at No. 2 doubles, 8-4, Idaho State’s Katie Zigars and Valerie Espinoza got by Lelia Kanuha and Deena Jenson at No. 1 and Lisel Lewis and Sophie Dang beat Emmi Bulloch and Casie Brooks at No. 3 by the same 8-4 score.

In singles, Idaho State won at first, second and third to claim the match. For SUU Bulloch took a 6-3, 6-4 win over Zigars at No. 4, Jenson prevailed 6-4, 7-5 over Roldan at No. 5 and Brooks handed Sazykina a 6-2, 6-4 loss at No. 3. Idaho State took the match, however, as Lewis won 6-2, 6-0 over Blanco at No. 1; Espinoza came out on top of Kanuha in a super-tiebreaker third set, 6-1, 1-6, 10-7 at No. 2; and Dang handled Docherty 7-6, 6-3 at No. 3.

Prior to the ISU match the Thunderbirds went 1-3 at the Dual In The Desert Mid-Con cluster, which was held at Bally’s Tennis Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

Southern Utah had a promising start to the cluster, topping Oakland University 5-2 on Thursday, but the team went on to lose a 4-1 decision to IUPUI and a 4-0 match against conference leader Oral Roberts on Friday. Both of those matches were stopped when the outcome was decided.

Saturday the Thunderbirds lost a close match against defending Mid-Con champion Valparaiso, but the ‘Birds came out on the wrong end of the decision as Valpo pulled out a 4-3 victory.