April 23, 2010
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Illinois State men's tennis team tallied a total of eight Missouri Valley Conference awards Thursday night, including the men's Coach of the Year honor awarded to head coach Cris James. Junior Timon Reichelt was the MVC Co-Player of the Year along with Drake's Mauricio Ballivian. The pair also split the No. 1 singles All-Conference honor as well.
"I am happy for our players," James said. "I think they worked hard and they deserve the honors with the season that we had. Coach of the Year is a nice honor, but again, I think this is in a lot of ways a team award and mostly pays tribute to the success we had as a team."
Reichelt has posted a 22-12 overall record this season, including a perfect 5-0 conference mark. The Wedemark, Germany native is 7-2 when playing at the No. 1 spot for the Redbirds and is riding a seven-match winning streak. Reichelt is the first Redbird to win the player of the year award for Illinois State. He recently earned back-to-back MVC Athlete of the Week honors for his outstanding play.
"Timon went 5-0 in conference matches and beat the No. 1 player from the next two best teams," James said. "He had a rough patch in the middle of the year but he is really playing well lately so he deserves it. I am happy for him."
Newcomer Alexander Pelaez earned the Freshman of the Year honor after his dominant season with the Redbirds. Pelaez also took all-conference honors at the No. 2 spot as well. The Cuban is 23-10 overall, holds a 5-0 conference record and is also on a seven-match winning streak. Pelaez holds a 15-5 record this spring and a perfect 8-0 mark when playing at the No. 2 position.
"I knew when I recruited Alex that he had the kind of talent to play like this," James said. "Early in the year he played well at times, but he had some ups and downs; I think partly because of maturity and partly because he was not able to play matches for more than a year before coming to college because of his situation and some NCAA rules that came into play. Once he got enough matches under his belt he has been almost unbeatable. He is really emotional on the court and, though he still has a ways to go in this area, he is doing a much better job controlling his emotions now, which is a key to his success."
Junior Filip Miljevic earned his first all-conference selection Thursday night. Miljevic sports a 22-13 overall record and holds a 3-1 conference record. He has a 10-8 record this spring and is 6-2 at the No. 3 court on the year.
Fellow junior Matej Zlatkovic rounded out the top four singles spots for the Redbirds. Zlatkovic collected the No. 4 singles all-conference honor with a stellar 13-4 record on the No. 4 court. Zlatkovic has a team-leading 26-12 overall mark and a perfect 5-0 conference record. He is also riding a seven-match winning streak.
I think the players who took the four top spots deserved the honor," James said. "Those four players went 18-1 combined in conference play so there wasn't much disputing it."
Reichelt collected his third award of the night in doubles. Reichelt and Zlatkovic earned all-conference honors at the No. 2 doubles position with an impressive 19-9 overall record and a near-perfect 8-1 mark on the No. 2 court. The duo is 5-0 in conference play.
"Timon and Matej have been consistent all year for us in doubles, and pretty dominant when they play at the No. 2 spot," James said. "I hope these guys can continue to develop together as they could be a national-level doubles team at some point, particularly if they can both improve a couple things."
Overall, Illinois State took home eight out of the twelve total awards. Six of those honors were outright and two were shared.
The Redbirds are preparing for the MVC Championship, which is weekend. Illinois State enters the tournament with the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of Friday's quarterfinals matchup between No. 4 Creighton (10-6, 1-4 MVC) and No. 5 Southern Illinois (6-12, 1-4 MVC). The Redbirds will play the winner of the Creighton-SIU match this Saturday at 2 p.m., at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex in Wichita, Kan.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, TRC gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
