After a promising fall season, Illinois States Greg Kennett feels his mens tennis team is ready to compete. The Redbirds will get that chance this weekend as they kick-off their spring season on the road at Butler and Louisville.
Leading the way for the Redbirds will be Ricky Heath, Jason Smit and Brent Steven. During the fall season, Heath claimed the Section A consolation championship at the Ball State Invitational, and won four out of his last six singles matches to finish with a record of 10-4. The doubles duo of Smit and Steven advanced to the qualifying stage of the ITA All-American Tournament before withdrawing, and wrapped up the fall season with a record of 7-4.
Adding depth to the Redbirds spring lineup will be Benjamin Pettinari. Pettinari, a 510 160-pound freshmen, comes to Illinois State from Cannes, France, where he attended St. Marys High School.
Ricky, Jason and Brent had promising fall seasons, and with the addition of Benjamin I think well have a strong lineup top to bottom, said Kennett. Everybody was really focused during the break and the guys are looking forward to starting the spring season.
The spring season will begin Friday, at Butler. On Saturday, January 19 the Redbirds will travel south to take on Louisville.
