Feb. 6, 2010
Final Stats
CHICAGO, Ill. -
Illinois State was able to get a crucial, 4-3, road win Saturday against a DePaul team that swept the Redbirds, 7-0, last season. Freshman Alexander Pelaez won his fourth straight singles match and teammates Matej Zlatkovic and Timon Reichelt have won 10 of their last 11 doubles matches.
Head coach Cris James is proud of his team and knows the win is important early in the season.
"We played solid Saturday and it is a good win for us," James said. "DePaul is a team that beat up on us last year but we went out and found a way to win Saturday after we had little time to warm up before the match."
Pelaez was down early at No. 2 singles but came back to defeat Matija Palinic, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Filip Miljevic scored another point for the Redbirds at No. 3 singles, winning against Ben Hartman, 6-3, 6-2. Reichelt scored the third singles point for Illinois State at No. 1 singles, where he downed Bartosz Jozwiak, 6-4, 6-4.
"Timon didn't play his best tennis [Saturday]," James said. "But he fought hard and grinded it out. He found a way to get it done for us."
The Redbirds claimed the doubles point thanks to wins from Pelaez and Miljevic at No. 1 doubles and Zlatkovic and Reichelt at the No. 2 spot. Skip Span and Micah LeMoine were defeated at No. 3 doubles by Vanja Grgec and Mathais Hambach, 8-4.
"It was huge for us to earn the doubles point," James said. "It gave us the confidence we needed going into singles which is really important."
Illinois State returns home Sunday to face Eastern Illinois 12:15 p.m., at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill.
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