Sept. 13, 2009
Louisville, Ky. -
Final Results in PDF Format 
The Illinois State men's tennis team won three finals against tough competition on Sunday. Juniors Timon Reichelt and Filip Miljevic came away with victories on the final day of the tournament. Head coach Cris James is happy to leave Louisville with three wins in finals matches.
"We played a lot of matches that were thrillers," James said. "We did well on a hot, sunny day that required our team to pull each other through some long matches."
The weather was indeed a factor as temperatures reached over 80 degrees in Louisville. Miljevic's match against Tennessee Tech's Josh Girling lasted three hours, ending with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Reichelt's went on for nearly four hours with two tiebreakers, ending 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4). The high temperatures made it hard for the players to concentrate as the day progressed.
"Everyone showed a lot of heart, confidence and team spirit," James said. "On a day like today, when everyone is pulling for each other, it makes it a lot easier for someone to fight for the win after playing for three or four hours. When a guy hears his teammates cheering him on in the background he starts feeding off of that. It was good to see that team spirit."
In Flight C singles sophomore Micah LeMoine lost in three close sets to Tennessee Tech's Justin Kirstein, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.Teammates Miljevic and Alexander Pelaez won Sunday's Flight A doubles final against Tennessee's Edward Jones and Bryan Swartz, 8-6.
"Filip and Alex have the potential to be a nationally ranked team," James said. "If they can clean up a few small things they will be hard to beat."
The Redbirds leave Louisville with a lot of confidence for the upcoming Ball State Invitational, which they will compete in Sept. 25-27.
"We will take away two things from this weekend," James said. "The first in confidence; it was good to see our team believe in each other and show some team spirit. The second thing is a better idea of what we need to work on and we'll get back to work this week as we try to improve those things."
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