March 21, 2008
Final Stats
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team, led by senior Luka Marinkovic, defeated Creighton, 6-1, Friday, March 21, at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill. The Redbirds, playing with a skeleton crew with senior Oscar Beich and sophomore Xavier Riart-Ferrer out with injuries, improved to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference this year while the Bluejays dropped to 6-5 overall and 0-1 in the MVC.
"We'll take the win," said head coach Cris James. "I didn't think it was our best match today. I would like to see the guys play at a higher level and just come in and take care of business. I felt like we gave them a bit of a chance when we should not have."
The injuries limited the `Birds roster to only five healthy players, forcing them to take a forfeit in the No. 3 doubles match and No. 6 singles match.
Despite the forfeit in doubles, Illinois State still captured the doubles point on the day. The Redbirds saw senior Marinkovic and junior Daniel Tobar teamed up to defeat Joe Eckert and Nikita Dudar at the No. 1 position, 8-3. At the No. 2 position, junior Nuno Jacinto and freshman Filip Miljevic played together for the first time this season and secured the doubles point for Illinois State by besting Brian Ward and Jose Guerra, 8-5.
In singles, Illinois State swept the matches played surrendering their only point on the day at No. 6 position due to forfeit. Tobar and Miljevic continued their torrid play as of late, with Tobar winning his seventh-consecutive match and Miljevic picking up his fifth straight. Tobar bested Eckert at the No. 3 spot, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, while Miljevic defeated Brian War in the No. 5 position, 6-4, 6-3.
In other singles action, Marinkovic bested Guerra at the No. 1 position, 6-1, 7-6. At the No. 2 spot, Jacinto was able bust a three-match losing streak with his win over Dudar, 6-2, 6-4. Playing at the No. 5 position sophomore Michael Hobson rounded out the action for the Redbirds with his victory over James McAvoy, 6-4, 6-1.
"The real positive that we will take from today is that we are able to win with a five man roster," said James. "I think we have a real shot to take a couple next weekend too, if we are able to do that and build a winning streak with only five guys, I think that gives us tremendous confidence. I'm glad we got a win today and hopefully we can earn a few more next weekend and get a renewed confidence in our season."
Illinois State returns to the court Saturday, March 29, at 1 p.m. when they travel to Saint Louis University to take on the Billikens.
