March 28, 2010
Final Stats
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -
Head coach Cris James and the Illinois State men's tennis team went 1-1 this weekend, with a loss to No. 25 Denver on Saturday night and a win Sunday over Air Force. The Redbirds fell to Denver, 4-0, but bounced back and got a 6-1 win against Air Force to capture their ninth victory of the season.
"Saturday night I was happy with our doubles play against Denver," James said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get the point and that hurt our confidence heading into singles. In singles, we didn't play our best and we really were not competitive with them."
The doubles pair of Matej Zlatkovic and Timon Reichelt lost at No. 1 doubles, 8-6, to Denver's Jens Vorkefeld Yannick Weihs. Zlatkovic and Reichelt are 14-9 when playing together this season.
Denver improves to 13-2 with Saturday's win over the Redbirds. The Pioneers entered the ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings earlier this season at the No. 63 spot and have climbed the charts since then, currently holding the No. 25 position.
"On Sunday against Air Force we were able to bounce back and get the win," James said. "We didn't play well in doubles, but after we lost that point we came out with a lot of energy and we really got after it on the singles court."
The Redbirds took all six singles points from Air Force on Sunday. Freshman Alexander Pelaez defeated Lance Wilhelm at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-2. Zlatkovic downed Brett Rodgers, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 4 singles court to earn his 21st win this year. Micah LeMoine beat Alex Beaussart, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 6 singles.
"Hopefully, this trip and these two matches can be another experience that prepares us for conference play," James said. "I think our schedule has worked out very well for us in terms of matching the level of our team's play to the opponents we have faced. We have had some tough matches that allowed us to learn a few things about ourselves and our team and we have also had some easier matches as well. We have had an ideal schedule so far and I feel like it has us well prepared for conference play."
Illinois State is now 9-7 this season and will open Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday, Apr. 3, at Southern Illinois starting at 1 p.m. The Redbirds will close the regular season with five conference matchups before entering the MVC Championships beginning Apr. 23.
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