April 13, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State men's tennis player Timon Reichelt earned Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week honors Tuesday, according to the league office. Reichelt put together an exciting performance last week and posted a combined 4-0 record, as the Redbirds (12-7, 3-0 MVC) moved into first place in the MVC with wins over Bradley and Wichita State.
In ISU's victory against Bradley on Apr. 8, Reichelt teamed up with Matej Zlatkovic at No. 2 doubles and defeated Brock Reiman and Richard Robertson, 8-2. Reichelt went on to win an intense match at No. 1 singles against Milos Romic, who entered Thursday's match with an 11-5 dual-match record.
In Saturday's close 4-3 win over Wichita State, Reichelt and Zlatkovic clinched an important doubles point by defeating Adrian Chermaci and Vlad Marinescu, 8-6. Reichelt collected his 20th singles win of the year with a victory at the No. 1 spot over Sven Kasper, 7-5, 6-2.
"I think this is a nice honor for Timon and the team," head coach Cris James said. "This is the fourth different player to be selected this year which shows that we have had several different guys stepping up. I'm happy for Timon and proud of him. He went through a rough patch earlier in the season when he struggled with his game and his emotions, but we talked about some changes he could make and he has really pulled it together in the past couple of weeks."
Reichelt is the fourth Redbird this spring to be selected as the MVC Athlete of the Week. Filip Miljevic received the honor on Feb. 2, and Skip Span and Alexander Pelaez received back-to-back selections on Mar. 23, and Mar. 30, respectively.
Reichelt is a big reason the Redbirds have won their last four matches. Reichelt, Zlatkovic and Pelaez have each won their previous five singles matches and Reichelt and Zlatkovic have teamed up on the doubles court to win their last three contests. ISU holds a 3-0 MVC record and sits atop the conference standings in front of Wichita State (11-8, 3-1 MVC).
The Redbirds conclude regular-season MVC play this weekend with a pair of home matches. ISU will face Creighton Saturday, Apr. 17, starting at 1 p.m., at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts. Illinois State will close the weekend with a match against defending MVC-champion Drake, Sunday Apr. 18, beginning at 11 a.m.
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