After cruising past Northern Iowa on Friday, the Illinois State mens tennis team defeated Drake 5-2 on Sunday at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Normal, Illinois. With the win, the Redbirds improve to 8-8 in dual match play, and remain undefeated in the Missouri Valley Conference with a record of 3-0.
Leading the way for the Redbirds were Ricky Heath and Jason Smit. Heath defeated Bryan Endress-Fox (6-4, 6-1) at No. 1 singles to improve his spring record to 12-6. Heath is currently on a five-match winning streak that began with a win over No. 44 Florida Atlantics Sandro Spotti.
Smit defeated Jack Frankowicz (6-3, 6-1) at No. 2 singles to improve his spring record to 7-11. In addition, he and teammate Andy Martin came back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat Frankowicz/Felipe Montenegro (8-6) at No. 2 doubles. With the victory, Smit and Martin improved their spring record to 6-2.
Rick and Jason really stepped up and played great matches for us today, said head coach Greg Kennett, who was extremely pleased with the performances of both Heath and Smit.
Also playing well for the Redbirds was Marek Blaskovic. Blaskovic defeated Matthew McClure (6-2, 6-3) at No. 6 singles to improve his spring record to 10-9. Further, he and teammate Ciaran Foley defeated McClure/Kirk Schuler (8-5) at No. 3 doubles. With the win, Blaskovic and Foley remain undefeated at No. 3 doubles with a record of 4-0.
Overall, coach Kennett was pleased with his teams effort against the Bulldogs.
Our guys showed great effort in their doubles matches, said Kennett. They fought back hard, and that is what we want to see.
Due to scheduling difficulties, the Redbirds did not play Bradley on Sunday. The match will be rescheduled for later in the season.
The Redbirds will look to extend their four match winning streak on Wednesday, April 10 at 3 p.m. when they host Valley powerhouse Indiana State at the McCormick Courts in Normal, Illinois.
