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Illinois State University Athletics

Redbirds Will Compete for MVC Individual Singles' and Doubles' Titles

Jan. 24, 2009

Results

DES MOINES, Iowa - Another day of success for Illinois State's men's tennis players Filip Miljevic and Skip Span, as they advanced into the final round of singles competition Saturday, at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Individual Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Doubles pairings of Daniel Tobar and Span and Timon Reichelt and Miljevic also qualified for the final round of doubles play at the Drake Tennis Center.

The Redbirds began the day with doubles competition, as Tobar and Span took on Wichita State's Michal Zawadzki and Vladamir Marinescu. The duo were off to a slow start trailing Wichita State 5-0, when the Redbirds came back to take the match in a tie-breaker, 9-8(7-3), advancing them into Flight 2 doubles finals. Tobar and Span will compete against Drake's Guilherme Marsiglia and Ricardo Lau for the title.

Miljevic and Span also advanced into Flight 1 doubles finals after coming from behind to top Lukas Waked and Anton Leonenko (Southern Illinois), 8-6. The two will face off against another Drake team of Maor Zirkin and Evgeny Silitski for Flight 1 title.

"The doubles matches were exciting to watch this morning," said head coach Cris James. "I was disappointed with how slow we started, but it was a good effort by the guys to come back and pull off the win. It's hard sometimes when you get behind by that much; Daniel and Skip stuck with it and didn't get down on themselves and were able to come out on top."

In singles action, Miljevic advanced to the final round of Flight 1 singles after beating Milos Romic of Bradley, 7-5, 6-1. Miljevic will also see Zirkin (Drake) Sunday as they go head-to-head for the singles title. Span topped Silitski (Drake) in a three-set match, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, to move ahead for a chance to win the Flight 2 singles' title.

Drake's Mauricio Ballivian won in a three-set match against Reichelt, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in Flight 2 singles. Reichelt will compete Sunday for third place against Southern Illinois' Hugo Vidal.

Michael Hobson fell to David Cavalcanti (Wichita State) 7-5, 6-1, in Flight 6 singles. Tobar lost his consolation match against Lorenz Ilg (Indiana State), 6-3, 6-2.

"I'm happy to see Filip and Skip make it into the finals," James said. "Skip has been a good competitor; he took the first set pretty easily. The momentum shifted early in the second set, but he was able to take control for the win in the third. Filip hasn't been playing his best tennis and needs to adjust some things for tomorrow [Sunday]; he will be up against the best player in the tournament."

The final day of the MVC Individual Championships will begin at 9 a.m. with doubles' finals.

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