Jan. 21, 2012
Des Moines, Iowa -
Four Redbirds advanced to the final round of singles play at the State Farm MVC Individual Championship Saturday at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The success continued with two teams advancing to the semifinal round of doubles play in the competition.
Head Coach Cris James was impressed with the leadership shown by his veteran players.
"I talked to the team about playing to their strengths and knowing what they do well," said James. "I also told them the importance of being relentless right from the beginning and our veteran players did a good job at doing that."
Alexander Pelaez and Skip Span both won 2-of-2 matches in singles play. Pelaez beat Matheus Pereira of Wichita State, 6-3, 6-4 before defeating Southern Illinois' Badr Cherradi, 6-2, 6-2. Drake's James McKie fell to Span, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Span stayed strong to come out on top against Brandon Florez of Southern Illinois, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Tuomas Manner was the third veteran to finish strong for the `Birds, winning 1-of-2 matches in singles play. Manner was defeated by Drake's Jean Erasmus, 6-0, 7-6 (6) before beating JT Christian of Creighton, 6-4, 6-3.
James was impressed with the improvement of Willi Peter and Jordan Badenko.
"Willi and Jordan both played pretty well," said James. "Jordan got beat but he got beat by a good player and his mentality on the court was better than I have seen it. I was happy with both of their performances."
Badenko was defeated by Tomislay Gregurovic of Wichita State, 6-2, 6-4 before turning it around to beat Creighton's Ryan Norman, 6-3, 6-4. Robin Goodman of Drake defeated Peter, 6-2, 6-3. Peter was able to be the last of four Redbirds to move on to the final round of singles play in the competition by beating Rafael Cuadrillero of Southern Illinois, 6-1, 6-1.
Pelaez and Manner continued to show their strength as a doubles team on the court.
"Alex and Tuomas have a good chemistry and they compliment each other well," said James. "Alex serves really well and he deals with fast balls at the net well while Tuomas' strength is returning serves. It helps, too, that they have a lot of fun together."
Drake's Jean Erasmus and James McKie fell to Pelaez and Manner, 8-4 as did Billy Paluch and JT Christian of Creighton, 8-1
Peter and Jordan paired up for the first time in doubles play winning 1-of-2 matches.
Alen Salibasic and Robin Goodman of Drake beat Peter and Jordan, 8-3 before the `Birds turned it around to beat Wichita State's Tomislav Gregurovic and Erick Reyes, 8-4.
"This was Willi and Jordan's first time playing together and quite honestly their first match was a disaster," said James. "They got it together in a hurry, though, and were right back on the court. They just have to bring more dominating attitudes out there and trust themselves which they did better in their second match."
The Redbirds will compete in the final round of singles play as well as the semi and final round of doubles play Sunday. Play is set to begin at 9 a.m.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
