Jan. 23, 2010
DES MOINES, Iowa -
Day Two Results in PDF Format 
Players from Illinois State’s men’s tennis team will represent the Redbirds in six of the seven singles finals at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships after an impressive performance Saturday. The ‘Birds were also able to advance to semifinals play on two of the three doubles courts. Overall, head coach Cris James is happy with his team’s play.
“We are happy and pumped up about our wins Saturday,” James said. “I think we came here to make a statement and we have already done that by getting into six finals. We have an opportunity to make a very big statement Sunday in the finals.”
Filip Miljevic advanced to the No. 1 singles final by beating Vlad Marinescu of Wichita State in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Timon Reichelt and Alexander Pelaez cruised into the finals on the No. 2 and No. 3 courts with easy wins over their opponents. On the No. 7 court Michael Hobson defeated Wichita State’s Matheus Pereira, 6-4, 7-5.
“Everyone competed hard and fought for every point which is a big reason why we were able to get some wins,” James said. “Anytime one of our players faced some adversity in a match he did not dwell on it too long. We were able to fight through the adversity and stay on track to keep ourselves in the match and get the win.”
On the No. 1 doubles court Miljevic and Pelaez went 1-1 Saturday to advance to Sunday’s semifinals. Reichelt and Matej Zlatkovic won both their matches on the No. 2 court, beating Bradley’s Brock Reiman and Juan Cuadrado, 8-4 and and Drake’s Guilherme Marsiglia and Jean Erasmus, 8-3.
“I know a lot of our players are excited to get a rematch Sunday against some opponents,” James said. “Overall, we’re going to continue to fight and compete. We came here to win matches and that is what we are doing.”
The Redbirds have the potential to win eight of the ten finals on Sunday, six in singles and two in doubles. At 2009’s MVC Individual Championships Illinois State lost in all four of the finals matches they competed in.
Illinois State will conclude play at the MVC Individual Championships Sunday beginning with doubles action at 9 a.m. Singles play will wrap up the weekend tournament at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
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