University of Southern Indiana Women’s Tennis was predicted to finish sixth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division in 2020 Thursday afternoon per the league’s preseason coaches poll.

The Screaming Eagles came in fifth in the GLVC East in 2019, coming one match shy of qualifying for the GLVC Tournament, despite accumulating an overall record of 5-15, 1-4 in league play.

Senior duo Lauren Hambrock and Alex Jamison highlight USI’s returners from the 2019 campaign that did not feature any graduating seniors. Hambrock has collected 21 victories in singles action in her career, working almost exclusively in the No. 1 slot since her freshman year while Jamison has amassed 23 career wins overall.

Despite dropping its lone dual match last fall to the University of Charleston (WV), USI found individual success in the Eastern Illinois University Panther Invitational and the USI Invitational. Freshman Kylie Skepnek posted four victories at EIU, including a 3-0 singles mark; Hambrock collected three victories at EIU before leading the Eagles in a dominant showing at the USI Invitational, posting 6-0 overall mark alongside sophomore Shelby Braselton.

With the entrance of Lindenwood University and Southwest Baptist University into the GLVC for the 2019-20 athletic year, there has been a shuffle in the division setup from the 2019 season, where the GLVC East now features eight teams as opposed to six a season ago.

Along with this divisional shift came a new eight-match league slate where the Eagles will do battle with the other seven East division squads, along with the University of Missouri-St. Louis of the West division.

USI Women’s Tennis opens the spring side of the 2019-20 campaign with four straight home matches starting February 7 as the Screaming Eagles welcome the Eastern Michigan University Eagles to the Evansville Tennis Center.

2020 Women’s Tennis Preseason Poll (First Place Votes)

EAST
1. Indianapolis 112 (14)
2. Lewis 88 (1)
3. Bellarmine 84
4. Illinois Springfield 69
5. Maryville 69
6. Southern Indiana 46
7. Lindenwood 41
8. McKendree 26

WEST
1. Drury 90 (6)
2. Southwest Baptist 89 (9)
3. Missouri-St. Louis 74
4. Rockhurst 61
5. Quincy 42
6. William Jewell 34
7. Truman State 23

Both the Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads were named College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America Teams on Thursday.

To be selected as a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team, programs must have achieved a grade point average of 3.00 or higher over the fall semester.

A total of 762 teams representing 480 schools earned the distinction of Scholar All-America team for the Fall 2019 semester.

Founded in 1922, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) – the oldest organization of college coaches in America – is a professional organization of college swimming and diving coaches dedicated to serving and providing leadership for the advancement of the sport of swimming & diving at the collegiate level.

University of Southern Indiana Men’s Tennis was tabbed for a fifth-place finish in the 2020 Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division standings Thursday, per the league’s coaches.

The Screaming Eagles ranked fourth in the GLVC East in 2019, posting an 11-13 record overall, going 2-3 in league action, qualifying for the eight-team GLVC Tournament last season.

Sophomore Marvin Kromer and junior Spencer Blandford represent USI’s leading returners from a year ago. Kromer posted an overall singles record of 14-8, including a 9-3 record in the third slot. Blandford went 15-5 in singles No. 4 last season en route to a 16-7 overall mark.

USI participated in two individual tournaments last fall, finding success at the Eastern Illinois University Panther Invite. Over the two-day event the Eagles collected 26 victories with freshmen Preston Cameron and Lucas Sakamaki walking away as champions in their respective flights. Kromer and Blandford teamed up to post a perfect slate in doubles action.

With the entrance of Lindenwood University and Southwest Baptist University into the GLVC for the 2019-20 athletic year, there has been a shuffle in the division setup from the 2019 season, where the GLVC East now features eight teams as opposed to six a season ago.

Along with this divisional shift came a new nine-match league slate where the Eagles will do battle with the other seven East division squads, along with Drury University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis of the West division.

USI Men’s Tennis opens the spring season February 7 as the Eagles host Brescia University at the Evansville Tennis Center. The GLVC slate opens with the March 6 bout at Drury.

2020 Men’s Tennis Preseason Poll (First Place Votes)

EAST
1. Indianapolis 104 (13)
2. Lewis 88 (1)
3. Maryville 70
4. Illinois Springfield 59
5. Southern Indiana 58
6. Lindenwood 43
7. McKendree 39
8. Bellarmine 35

WEST
1. Drury 72 (6)
2. Southwest Baptist 70 (7)
3. Missouri-St. Louis 54
4. Rockhurst 42
5. William Jewell 28
6. Quincy 22

The Indiana University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will travel south to take on the Louisville Cardinals on Jan. 31. The meet is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

The meet can be viewed live via ACC Network Extra here.

IN THE RANKINGS

Men’s teams: No. 4 Indiana, No. 10 Louisville

Women’s teams: No. 19 Louisville. No. 21 Indiana

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

The one-day dual meet is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. with 14 swimming events and two diving events.

The order of events for swimming will be 200 medley relay, 1,000 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 500 freestyle 100 butterfly, 200 IM, and 400 freestyle relay.

Diving will run during the meet and during the swimming breaks with both the 1M and 3M events.

HOOSIERS DOMINATE PURDUE IN FINAL HOME DUAL MEET

The IU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dominated in-state rivals Purdue by scores of 174-120 (women’s) and 179-112 (men’s) at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center on Jan. 25 in front of Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and his wife, Laurie Burns McRobbie, who both attended the meet as art of the Bicentennial celebration.

The Hoosiers won 23 of the 32 contested events and saw seven individuals win multiple events. Freshman Cora Dupre led the charge with three event victories. The Indiana men have now defeated Purdue in 10-straight dual meets, dating back to the 2009-10 season. The women’s team holds a nine-meet winning streak over the in-state rival.

IU SWIMMING AND DIVING EARNS SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA HONORS

Both the Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads were named College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America Teams on Jan. 29. To be selected as a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team, programs must have achieved a grade point average of 3.00 or higher over the fall semester.

GOULD, PEPLOWSKI HONORED BY BIG TEN

Indiana junior diver Mory Gould was named Big Ten Diver of the Week, while sophomore Noelle Peplowski was named Co-Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 15 for their efforts in the Michigan dual. The honors marked the first for each athlete and the first received by a Hoosier since the calendar turned to 2020.

HOOSIERS FALL IN DUAL AGAINST MICHIGAN

For the first time since the 2016 season, the Indiana men’s swimming and diving team was unable to topple the Michigan Wolverines in a dual meet, as Michigan took down both the men’s team (160-140) and the women’s team (186-114) on Jan. 11.

A total of five Hoosiers claimed multiple victories in the meet, highlighted by Mory Gould capturing titles in both diving events and Noelle Peplowski sweeping the breaststroke events. On top of individual event wins, Bruno Blaskovic, Brendan Burns, and Mohamed Samy also helped Indiana coast to a 400 freestyle relay event championship.

BURNS, SAMY NAMED BIG TEN SWIMMERS OF THE WEEK

Indiana University senior Mohamed Samy and freshman Brendan Burns were named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week, respectively, the league office announced on Nov. 27, 2019. The honors of the first of the season for each swimmer and the first collected by a Hoosier this season.

IU SPLITS TWO MEETS WITH TEXAS, LOUISVILLE

The Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both toppled No. 9/11 Louisville in both the long-course (197-84, 166-115) and short-course (189.5-91.5, 142-139) meets but fell to No. 2/8 Texas (157.5-121.5, 146-134) and (160-118, 168-113) at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on Nov. 8-9. All six teams competing in the meet were ranked inside the top-20 of the TYR Dual Meet Rankings.

MEN’S TEAM DOMINATES BIG TEN OPPONENTS

The Indiana men’s swimming and diving teams defeated both Iowa (245-55) and Michigan (165-135) at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center the first Saturday in November.

For the second-straight meet, senior Mohamed Samy was electric. He posted three event times inside the top-10 nationally to this point in the season, to include the nation-leading time in both the 100 free (43.20) and the 200 IM (1:44.95) and the fourth-fastest time in the 200 free (1:35.30).

INDIANA PICKS UP THREE WINS AGAINST KNETUCKY, NOTRE DAME
Five Hoosiers combined to win nine individual events and one relay in the season-opening tri-meet against Kentucky and Notre Dame. Sophomore Zane Backes won the 100 and 200 breaststroke, freshman Brendan Burns touched first in the 200 butterfly, junior Gabriel Fantoni took gold in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 100 fly, and senior Mohamed Samy won the 100 and 200 freestyle plus the 200 IM.

IU defeated UK by a score of 204-96 and ND by a final tally of 219-81.

UE returns home for three of the next four games

Sam Cunliffe and John Hall finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively, to lead the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in a 77-66 loss to Illinois State on Wednesday evening inside Redbird Arena.

Cunliffe hit six field goals and three triples on his way to the 15-point effort.  He set his season mark with nine rebounds.  Hall had his top game since December 7 against Miami Ohio – tallying 13.  He was 5-for-8 from the floor and hit three triples of his own.  K.J. Riley finished the evening with ten points.

“It was a game of runs.  I thought our execution at times was good, especially with the limited amount of time we have spent together,” UE head coach Todd Lickliter said.  “They (ISU) hit two 3’s and it changed so fast.  Our guys have played some really good basketball but we have struggled with our consistency and that is where we will work to help them.  Our guys have continued to play with effort and I am proud of how hard they have worked.”

Fresh off of a career-high of 12 points on Sunday at Valparaiso, sophomore Jawaun Newton converted a 4-point play in the opening possession before Sam Cunliffe added a triple to give the Aces (9-13, 0-9 MVC) a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game.  Illinois State (7-14, 2-7 MVC) rebounded with three triples but another trey courtesy of John Hall saw the UE lead stand at 10-9 at the 15-minute mark.

Illinois State grabbed its first lead of the night a minute later at 11-10 and would go up by as many as four in the opening 20 minutes.  As the midway point of the first half approached, Noah Frederking knocked down his first long ball before an and-one from Shamar Givance tied the score at 19-19 with 9:38 on the clock before an Evan Kuhlman bucket on the ensuing possession put the Aces back in front.

With the score knotted at 24-24 two minutes later, the Aces had their top stretch of the half, going on a 9-1 run to open up their largest lead at 33-25.  Consecutive three’s by John Hall anchored the run before Cunliffe knocked down his second outside shot.  Over the final 3:34 of the half, Illinois State rallied back with an 11-4 run to cut the Evansville lead to 37-36 at the break.  Hall led the Aces with 11 first-half points.

The opening possession of the second half saw the Redbirds knocked down their ninth 3-pointer of the game as they recorded the first five points of the half to retake a 41-37 lead.  UE never relented and fought back with another triple from Cunliffe and a dunk by Hall to take a 46-45 edge at the 14:01 mark.  K.J. Riley added a pair of baskets to help Evansville go back in front at 51-47.

ISU responded with a 10-0 stretch while keeping the Aces scoreless for a 3-minute stretch.  A timely three by Frederking got the Aces back on the board to make it a one-possession game  – 57-54.  The Redbirds fought right back to take their largest lead at 64-56 inside of eight minutes left.  It was UE’s senior righting the ship as his old fashioned 3-point play cut the deficit to five.

Another 3-pointer by Illinois State made it a double figure game and they would add to it, going up by 18 points in the final moments while holding the Aces scoreless for a stretch of six minutes before finishing with a 77-66 win.  Leading the Redbirds was Jaycee Hillsman, who posted 20 points.  Keith Fisher III finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Evansville finished with the shooting edge at 47.2% while holding ISU to 46.7%.  In three games under Coach Lickliter, the UE offense has improved each time out while showing improvement on the glass with each team finishing the evening with 31 rebounds.

An Orange Out is on tap Saturday when UE welcomes UNI to the Ford Center for a 1 p.m. game.  A 2 for 1 premium ticket special for the game runs through the end of the workday on Friday (5 p.m.) at the Carson Center Ticket Office.