April 3, 2009
Results
PEORIA, Ill. -
Junior Xavier Riart-Ferrer rejoined the Illinois State men's tennis team doubles lineup Friday, as the Redbirds swept Bradley, 7-0, at the Markin Tennis Courts in Peoria, Ill. Riart-Ferrer, who had been out due to foot injury, earned a win at No. 2 doubles with partner Daniel Tobar, allowing Tobar to move into the No. 4 all-time position in Illinois State history with 69 doubles wins. The `Birds improve to 6-8 on the season and 1-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Illinois State head coach Cris James feels the Redbirds are finally regaining their health, just in the nick of time, for conference play.
"It was good to see Xavier back in the lineup today," said James. "It's been a while since he's been able to compete and we are taking steps to get him back to the level he was playing at prior to his foot injury."
In doubles action, Skip Span and Filip Miljevic topped Callan Fraychineaud and Milos Romic, 8-5, at the No. 1 spot. The No. 3 doubles pair of Michael Hobson and Timon Reichelt defeated Trevor McGrath and Richard Robertson, 8-5, while Riart-Ferrer and Tobar rounded out doubles play with an, 8-7(5), win over Mitch Osborne and Michel Macara-chvili.
In singles, all but one singles match finished in two sets. In No. 2 singles, Reichelt beat Fraychineaud, 6-2, 6-4, as Span nearly shut-out Samoylov, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 3 position. At No. 4, Hobson outplayed Macara-chvili, 6-4, 6-4.
Micah LeMoine posted a 6-3, 6-1, win over Osborne in No. 6 singles, while Tobar bested Robertson in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-1, 7-6(4), at the No. 5 spot. Miljevic battled at the No. 1 position against Romic, winning the match, 6-2, 4-6, (10-5).
"I wasn't pleased with how we started out in doubles," added James. "We weren't competing for each point. However, the guys regained their focus during singles. Both Micah and Skip played solid. Skip does a great job of executing in two sets. Micah won pretty convincingly; he's getting over his sickness and playing better tennis."
Illinois State returns home Saturday (April 4) to host Wichita State. First serve is set for 1 p.m., at Gregory Street Tennis Courts in Normal, Ill.
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