Oct. 4, 2008
Results
MUNCIE, Ind. -
Freshman Skip Span and sophomore Filip Miljevic qualified for the final round of singles play at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center, as the Illinois State men's tennis team continued its success Saturday at the Ball State Invitational. The Redbirds will also be sending two doubles teams into the final round.
In the quarterfinal round of Flight A singles, Miljevic took control over Indiana State's Mpilo Migogo winning, 6-1, 6-2. He then went on to defeat Nick Camilleri of Wright State, 7-5, 6-2, to secure a spot in the finals.
Span bested Mark Maciuch of Duquesne in a three-set match, 6-7(1), 6-1, 1-0(2), to advance to the semifinals in Flight B singles. Span topped J.T. Torbeck (Xavier), 6-2, 6-4, to advance into the final round.
"It was a good day," said head coach Cris James. "Filip and Skip played phenomenal. Skip started out slow, but was able to pick up his game. Filip's match against Wright State could have gone either way, but he ended up wearing the other kid down. His matched showed how effective the [ISU] strength program has been with the team. Filip and Skip demonstrated a high level of endurance as both played four matches today."
In doubles action, Span and Tobar defeated Mpilo Migogo and Joshua Smith (Indiana St.), 8-4, to continue into the semifinals. The duo surpassed Butler's Chris Herron and Bryce Warren, 8-6, to qualify into the Flight A finals round. Miljevic and sophomore Timon Reichelt defeated Matt Hansen and Ross VanderPloeg (N. Illinois), 8-4, in Flight B quarterfinals. In the semifinal round, the pair outplayed Cleveland State's Yannick Goossens and Aris Spirtos, 8-5, to make it to the final round.
"I am pretty happy with the doubles partnering," said James. "I made new [doubles] combinations in practice; I had a feeling about who would play well together. It was encouraging for the guys to prove me right and see them win with large margins."
In other singles play, senior Daniel Tobar dropped his match against Mike Dieciuc (Xavier) in the Flight B consolation quarterfinals. Both Reichelt and Xavier Riart-Ferrer were stopped in the quarterfinal round. The doubles team of Riart-Ferrer and LeMoine were also knocked out in the quarterfinal round.
