Oct. 21, 2011
EVANSTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team completed the first day of the Northwestern Invitational at the Combe Indoor Tennis Center on Friday. The 'Birds won 2-of-4 matches in singles play.
Willi Peter defeated Kapshuk of Northern Illinois', 6-0, 6-0 while Jusso Ojanen beat Wisconsin's Fredrik Ask, 6-4, 7-5. Jacob Wilson lost to Vanderploeg of Western Michigan, 6-4, 6-4 while Muddappa Appanervanda was defeated by Northwestern's Jayashankar, 6-2, 6-4.
Head Coach Cris James was satisfied with how singles play went on Friday.
"Singles play went okay," said James. "We played well in spots and not well in other spots. Willi had a pretty easy match and Jusso had a good win. The other guys lost to pretty good players. We just have to get a little bit more of a killer instinct and a little more arrogance. We have to believe we are better and expect to win."
Appanervanda and Peter took on Robles and Teppert of Wisconsin and lost, 8-5. They turned it around in their second match to beat Toledo's Dudzik and Wong, 9-8.Ojanen and Wilson lost to Kasper and Hambach of DePaul, 8-2 and lost to Western Michigan's Shideler and Olivarez, 8-1.
"We're going to have to spend some serious time on doubles play at home," said James. "I will say Willi and Muddappa are doing a lot of good things, they just need to execute at a higher level. They have to put more balls on the court, essentially."
James saw improvements out of his team and especially out of Ojanen.
"I think we are playing more consistently and Jusso continues to get better each match," said James. "He hasn't played as much as the other guys this fall, he had a long break, but every match he looks stronger. He remains in control."
The 'Birds will be back in action Saturday. Play is set to begin at 8 a.m.
"We just need to build on Friday," said James. "I would like to see us do better in doubles Saturday. By the end of the day on Friday there was a lack of energy. We didn't deliver high quality stuff so hopefully Saturday will be better."
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