Alban Renard won his eighth straight singles match but it was not enough as the Illinois State mens tennis team lost its second consecutive conference match to Wichita State Sunday 6-1. The Birds are now 8-9 on the season and 3-1 in the Missouri Valley.
Renard played solid tennis at the No. 5 position, downing his opponent Moti Esikovits in straight sets (6-3, 6-0). Renard is now 16-9 in singles play and has won twelve of his last thirteen matches.
Head coach Greg Kennett is thrilled with Renards play of late.
Alban is rock solid right now, he is playing outstanding tennis, said Kennett. Im very proud of him. I knew that he would be a great player, he is a great kid on and off the court.
In other singles action, Guillermo Gomez played at the No. 1 position for only the second time this year and fell to Goran Vujaklija (6-7, 6-3, 6-1). At the No. 2 position, Djordje Uskokovic lost to Carlo Contente in three sets (1-6, 6-1, 6-2). Yohann Nograbat played at the No. 3 position but fell to Gabriel Laredo (6-3, 6-4, 6-4).
The Birds lost the doubles point for the second consecutive match despite solid play from Ben Pettinari and Uskokovic at the No. 1 position. The duo won their twelfth match of the spring season downing the team of Boris Gubic and Vujaklija. At the No. 2 position, Gomez and Renard fell to Contente and Eisikovits (8-5). Sophomore Tim Link teamed up with Luka Marinkovic and lost in a close match (9-7).
Kennett is not happy with the play at the doubles positions and has not ruled out moving people around.
The teams might be losing confidence in each other, we might have to change things up, said Kennett.
The Birds will be back in action on April 23, at 12 p.m., when they host Indiana State at the McCormick Courts.
