Senior Guillermo Gomez was the only Redbird to win a match as the Illinois State mens tennis team fell to a determined No. 38 Southern Methodist team, 6-1, Saturday at the Haggar Tennis Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
After losing in doubles play while teamed up with Alban Renard at the No. 2 position to Peter Oredsson and Henrik Soderberg (8-6), Gomez regained his composure to drop Paul McNaughton at the No. 2 singles position, (6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4).
Head coach Greg Kennett found the play that he was looking for out of his senior.
Guillermo played outstanding tennis today, Kennett said. He beat a tremendous kid who just knocked off a player ranked in the Top 20. He played with great intensity and his ground-strokes were really working for him. I think this win, will work wonders for his confidence.
In other singles action, Djordje Uskokovic lost to Gwinyai Chingoka at the No. 1 position in straight sets, (6-2, 6-2). At the No. 3 position, Luka Marinkovic lost his sixth match of the spring season to Fedrico Murgier, (2-6, 6-2, 6-0). Yohann Nograbat lost his fifth consecutive singles match at the No. 4 spot in straight sets to Oredsson, (6-4, 6-4). At the No. 5 position Alban Renard snapped his consecutive win streak at four, falling to David Kuezer, (6-4, 6-4). Oscar Beich, who has not played a singles match since the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships in January, lost at the No. 6 position to Adolofo Solares, (6-3, 3-6, 6-3).
In doubles play, Uskokovic and Ben Pettinari fell at the No. 1 position for only the second time this spring to McNaughton and Murgier, (8-5). At the No. 3 spot, Nograbat and Marinkovic teamed up for the first time this season, and lost to Chingoka and Kuezer, (8-4).
Despite the loss, Kennett was pleased with the effort he saw from his Birds today.
I really thought that we played well today, Kennett said. We fought very hard in each match, and I thought that we had a chance to win some matches. Even though we lost the team feels very positive about the way we played.
The Bird will be back in action on Sunday March 13, when they take on Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, at 2 p.m.
