The Illinois State mens tennis team, led by the duos of Ricky Heath and Yew Ming Si in the No. 1 doubles flight and Jason Smit and Brent Seven at No. 2 , was the only school able to prevent a clean sweep by Indiana State at the Missouri Valley Conference Mens Tennis Individual Championships at Des Moines.
Heath and Si wasted little time in disposing of Creightons Floth and Muller with an easy 8-2 victory to claim the title in the No. 1 doubles flight. Not to be outdone, the duo of Smit and Stevens also made quick work of their opponents, dropping Indiana States Brajkovic and Vidovic, 8-2, to claim the title at the No. 2 doubles slot.
Indiana State took all seven singles flights and the No. 3 doubles flight. However, the Birds did have the opportunity to claim additional hardware, although, Smit, Si and Albert Piasecki each came up short in their title bids.
Smit fell to Stefan Him, 6-2, 6-2, in the title match in the No. 2 singles flight while Si dropped his title match in the No. 3 singles flight, 6-3, 7-5, to Vedran Vidovic. Albert Piasecki made the strongest bid for a singles title in the No. 5 flight before falling in a three-set tie-breaker, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3), to Henry Choi.
The Birds return to action February 3, at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
