Jan. 19, 2008
Results
WICHITA, Kan. -
Illinois State senior Oscar Beich and sophomore Michael Hobson teamed up to capture their second doubles win in as many chances Saturday, at the Shocker Invitational in Wichita, Kan. It was the Redbirds' only win on the day, as the Illinois State men's tennis team faced off in individual matches against players from Arkansas.
"We played much tougher mentally (Saturday)," said Illinois State head men's tennis coach Cris James. "Our guys were down a little about not winning some more matches, but I told them that if we are able to go out and play like we did (Saturday) on a consistent basis we will be a very tough team to beat. Arkansas is usually a top-30 program, and even though we dropped our matches (Saturday), they were all played very close and competitively. We were right there with them (Arkansas)."
In singles, the `Birds were not able to pull out a victory in six closely-played matches. Senior Luka Marinkovic took Blake Strode, nationally ranked in singles, to a tie-breaking third set before falling, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Junior Daniel Tobar also took his opponent, Colin Mascall to a tie-breaking third set before giving way, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. Fellow junior Nuno Jacinto dropped his match to Christopher Nott, 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Xavier Riart-Ferrer was bested by Bradwin Williams, 6-3, 7-5. The `Birds singles winners from Friday, Beich and Hobson, were unable to continue their success, as Beich lost to Matthew Hogan, 6-4, 6-4, and Hobson fell to Tyler Tarnasky, 7-5, 6-4.
In doubles, the tandem of Beich and Hobson won for the second straight day, as they bested Hogan and Williams, 8-4. Marinkovic and Tobar were defeated by Strode and Mascall, 8-4. Jacinto and Xavier Riart-Ferrer dropped their match to Nott and Dmitry Lebedez, 8-3.
"The big test for us is to be able to maintain the level of mental tenacity that we displayed (Saturday)," said James. "Anybody can do it once, but if we can make it something we do all the time, the wins will come for us. Hopefully the guys bring it again (Sunday)."
On Sunday, the Redbirds will face players from Oklahoma in the final day of the individual-style Shocker Invitational.
