The Illinois State mens tennis team picked up Missouri Valley Conference wins, sweeping Southern Illinois and Bradley Saturday to improve to 13-7 overall and 5-1 in the Valley.
It was a fun day of tennis, head coach Greg Kennett said. We got some good wins and didnt lose any points. Its always fun to beat Bradley no matter what sport its in.
In the first match of the afternoon, ISU won two of the three doubles matches to earn the doubles point and the early lead. Up by one, the Redbirds never looked back as they took all six singles points, as well.
The story was much the same in the second match at Bradley. The Redbird doubles teams, which have been solid all season, won easily building a one-point cushion heading to singles. For the second time Saturday, the Birds won all singles matches and walked away with a 7-0 victory.
The No. 1 doubles team of Ricky Heath and Yew Ming Si won for the 29th time of the year with two wins, one against Valentin Epure and Peter Bong of SIU (8-1) and the other against Bradleys Chris May and Mike Walz (8-1).
Albert Piasecki and Thommas de Liefde picked up a win at No. 3 against SIUs Chris Carpenter and Brian Blake (8-0) and a win at No. 2 over Bradleys Alex White and Bret Martin (8-3). Brent Steven and Andy Martin teamed up at No. 3 against Bradley and defeated Ryan Lakin and Mark Lakin (8-1).
In singles, Heath picked two wins, defeating SIUs Epure (6-3, 6-1) and Bradleys White (6-2, 6-2). At No. 2 Yew Ming Si continued his strong play with two more wins against Alon Savidor of SIU (6-3, 6-3) and Chris May of BU (6-3, 6-1). Jason Smit earned the victory at No. 3 against Southern, taking Peter Bong to three sets 96-7, 6-4, 10-6). Steven, a freshman from Wichita, Kan., got a win at No. 4 against Tim Marsh of SIU (6-2, 7-5) and won at No. 3 against Bradleys Ryan Lakin (6-4, 6-2).
Piasecki won a match at No. 5 over Carpenter of Southern (6-1, 6-3) and at No. 4 against Bloomington native Walz of Bradley (6-4, 6-4). Andy Martin got the call at No. 6 for Southern and won against Blake (6-2, 6-1). For Bradley, Martin moved to No. 5 and had the same result, a win over Bret Martin (6-4, 6-1). Sophomore Pedro Coutinho won his match at No. 6 at Bradley against Mark Lakin (6-4, 6-0).
Today was a good preparation for tomorrows match at Indiana State, Kennett said. Indiana States fired up for us and have a lot of respect for our program so it should be a good match. Our mission now is to get the No. 2 or No. 3 seed for the MVC tournament.
The Birds face No. 19 Indiana State tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in Terre Haute.
Illinois State 7 Southern Illinois 0
Singles
1. Ricky Heath (ISU) def. Valentin Epure (SIU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Yew Ming Si (ISU) def. Avon Savidor (SIU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Jason Smit (ISU) def. Peter Bong (SIU) 6-7, 6-4, 10-6
4. Brent Steven (ISU) def. Tim Marsh (SIU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Albert Piasecki (ISU) def. Chris Carpenter (SIU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Andrew Martin (ISU) def. Brian Blake (SIU) 6-2, 6-1
7. Pedro Coutinho (ISU) def. Jason Moulton (SIU) 8-0
Doubles
1. Heath/Si (ISU) def. Epure/bong (SIU) 8-1
2. Savidor/Marsh (SIU) def.Smit/Steven (ISU) 9-8(4)
3. Piasecki/Thommas de Liefde (ISU) def. Carpenter/Blake (SIU) 8-0
Illinois State 7 Bradley 0
1. Ricky Heath (ISU) def. Alex White (BU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Yew Ming Si (ISU) def. Chris May (BU) 6-3, 6-1
3. Brent Steven (ISU) def. Ryan lakin (BU) 6-4, 6-2
4. Albert Piasecki (ISU) def. Mike Walz (BU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Andy Martin (ISU) def. Bret Martin (BU) 6-4, 6-1
6. Pedro Coutinho (ISU) def. Mark Lakin (BU) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles
1. Heath/Si (ISU) def. May/Walz (BU) 8-1
2. Piasecki/Thommas de Liefde (ISU) def. White/Martin (BU) 8-3
3. Steven/Martin (ISU) def. Lakin/Lakin (BU) 8-1
