After winning its last two matches in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Illinois State mens tennis team wrapped-up the regular season on Sunday with a 7-0 victory over Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. With the win, the Redbirds improve to 12-10 in dual match play, and finish tied for second in the Valley with a record of 7-2.
Overall, our guys turned in a great performance today, said head coach Greg Kennett, who was extremely pleased with his teams performance against the Purple Aces.
Leading the way for the Redbirds were Marek Blaskovic and Ricky Heath. Blaskovic, who has won eight of his last nine matches in the Valley, easily defeated Zack Westfall (6-0, 6-1) at No. 6 singles to improve to 15-10 on the spring. In addition, he and teammate Ciaran Foley defeated Kincheloe/Westfall (8-0) at No. 3 doubles to improve their spring record to 7-1.
Heath, who has won ten of his last 11 matches (8 in the Valley), defeated Clemens Klein (7-6, 6-2) at No. 1 singles to improve to 17-7 on the spring. Further, he and teammate Ben Pettinari defeated Crouzet/Arguello (8-1) at No. 1 doubles to improve their spring record to 5-4.
Also playing well for the Redbirds was Andy Martin. Martin easily defeated Derrick Kincheloe (6-0, 6-0) at No. 5 singles to improve to 7-12 on the spring. In addition, he and teammate Jason Smit defeated Klein/Boland (8-0) at No. 2 doubles to improve their spring record to 8-3.
I really feel like Marek and Andy played very well for us today, said Kennett. Rick also fought hard for us today, but he has always been a fighter.
