Feb. 7, 2010
Final Stats
NORMAL, Ill. -
Final Results in PDF Format 
Alexander Pelaez won his fifth straight singles match Sunday to help the Illinois State men's tennis team defeat Eastern Illinois, 5-2, at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill. The Redbirds won two of three matches over the weekend to improve their record to 4-2.
"We got the win Sunday after a tough match and a long weekend," head coach Cris James said. "We didn't play our best tennis and the matchups were tougher for us. At this point the message to the team is we're doing a good job overall and we're getting to where we need to be but we still have a long way to go."
Pelaez won on the No. 2 singles court, 6-3, 6-4, against Matyas Hilgert. Timon Reichelt battled with Eastern Illinois' Jeff Rutherford on the No. 1 singles court and forced a super tie-breaker. Reichelt lost the first set, 6-3, but came back to win the second, 7-5, and finished strong with a 10-2 win in the tie-breaker.
"Timon is very good at finding a way to win," James said. "He didn't play his best tennis [Sunday] and he'll be the first person to admit that, but something he did do a good job of is find a way to get it done."
In doubles, Pelaez and Michael Hobson defeated Eastern Illinois' Jeff Rutherford and Matyas Hilgert at No. 1 doubles, 8-3. At No. 2 doubles Skip Span and Filip Miljevic won, 8-5, against Warren Race and Michael Sperry. Reichelt and Micah LeMoine completed the doubles sweep by downing Hilgert and Justin Haag, 8-1.
"I was very happy with our doubles performance," James said. "We split the teams up and put some of the leaders on the doubles court with some different players and I'm hoping everyone learned something from that. Overall, it was a good weekend for us. We're taking steps forward right now and our expectation level is getting higher. We got a couple good wins, but as a team we know we can play better."
The Redbirds now hold a 4-2 dual-match record as they prepare for a seven-match road swing beginning Saturday at Ball State. The first serve is scheduled for 1 p.m., at the Muncie Northwest YMCA Tennis Center in Muncie, Ind.
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