Jan. 31, 2009
Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -
Freshman Skip Span secured the match win for Illinois State's men's tennis team, as the `Birds defeated Illinois-Chicago (UIC) 4-3, Saturday at Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill. Illinois State continued its success in doubles competition, as the team saw victories in two doubles matches. Sophomore Timon Reichelt served up an ace to clinch the doubles' point for the Redbirds. Illinois State improves its record 2-0 on the season.
In singles, Span fought against Dan Wilson in a three-set match, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, to grab the singles' win that carried the Redbirds to victory over UIC. Other singles victories for Illinois State was when Reichelt topped Bastian Harbo, 6-3, 6-4, and Daniel Tobar defeated Adriano Liccardo, 6-3, 6-3.
Illinois State dropped three matches to the Flames. Nathan Kirk beat Micah LeMoine, 6-0, 6-2, at the No. 6 spot. Michael Hobson dropped his singles match to George Hudson, 6-3, 7-6. Filip Miljevic fell to Sebastian Lysted, 6-4, 7-6, at the No. 1 singles' position.
"It's a big win for us," said head coach Cris James. "We really had to fight to get a win - we were down in doubles and singles. There was a point that I thought we might have been in trouble for the overall team match and we had to fight back. Skip brought it back and was able to get it done.
"If Filip and Michael weren't able to keep their matches going, Skip would've had more pressure on him to pull through. The whole team fought hard. These are the type of matches that will help us prepare for tough conference matches later this season."
During doubles play, Tobar and Span defeated Sebastian Lystad and Dave Robare, 8-5, at the No.1 doubles' spot. Miljevic and LeMoine dropped their doubles match to Kirk and Scott Sheperdson, 8-4, while Reichelt and Hobson closed out doubles play with an ace to secure the 8-4 win and the team's doubles' point.
"For the most part we came out with the intensity and confidence we had been focusing on," James said. "There were a couple of guys who got down on themselves and almost seemed to give up, but we ended with more energy than we did against Eastern [Illinois]. We had to take our intensity to the next level and were able to turn the doubles' matches around in our favor."
The Illinois State men's tennis team will travel to West LaFayette, Ind., where it will take on Purdue, Friday, Feb. 6 at 5:00 p.m., and Arkansas Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2:30 p.m.
