Jan. 27, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa -
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The Illinois State men's tennis team will be sending, Luka Marinkovic and Daniel Tobar in singles as well as a pair of doubles teams into final round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Tennis Individual Championship finals. The finals will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday morning with doubles scheduled to begin at noon.
It was a successful as well as disappointing day at the Drake Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa for head coach Greg Kennett and his Redbirds.
"Today wasn't too bad, we had a lot of opportunities to have a good day and we didn't get it done," said Kennett. "We definitely have some things to work on. We did play some good doubles this evening so that made us feel good about things."
Unable to grasp a back-to-back title, Alfredo Lagarda was defeated by Boris Gubic of Wichita State. Lagarda fought hard at Flight 2 in the tie breaker but was unable to take the win, loosing 6-1, 2-6, 7-5(5). Lagarda took home third place in Flight 2. In Flight 3, Nuno Jacinto was dropped by Drake's Dalibor Pavic 6-4, 6-4. Jacinto came back to win the third place title from Creighton's Joe Eckert 6-0, 6-0. Oscar Beich dropped his match against Drake, however he then went onto beating out Bradley's, Michael Macara-chvili for third place at Flight 6 (6-3, 6-2).
The `Birds still have a chance to take home four crowns at the No. 5 and 7 singles and No. 2 and 3 of doubles.
Kennett has confidence that Marinkovic and Tobar have what it takes to take home the crowns.
"Luka played well, he started slow but finished strong," said Kennett. "Daniel played well enough to win today, he just needs to focus on mentally being there the entire match. He has a good match to play tomorrow and hopefully it will be a challenge he can win tomorrow."
Marinkovic will head into the finals with an attempt to win back-to-back titles in both singles and doubles. In Flight 5 of singles Marinkovic defeated Alfert Ballesta of Wichita State 7-6(5), 6-1. Marinkovic then joined with teammate Oscar Beich in Flight 3 double posting an 8-5 win over Drakes Marsiglia and Dill.
Last year Tobar won the doubles crown in Flight 3 with Marinkovic, this year in Flight 2 doubles, No. 1 seeded Tobar and Jacinto will compete for the crown. Today the duo downed Drakes Mendoza and Vila 8-6. Tobar is also fighting for the Flight 7 title after defeating Creighton's James McAvoy 6-1, 7-5; Tobar will take on Drakes Halvar Dill tomorrow in the final.
"Overall we need to do well in the finals," said Kennett. "Hopefully we can bring home a couple of single and doubles titles tomorrow."
The championship will come to a close on Sunday. For live updates visit the MVC website at www.mvc-sports.com
