Feb. 25, 2012
Final Stats
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team defeated Cleveland State Saturday at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Ill. The Redbirds came back, after losing the point in doubles, winning 4-of-6 matches in singles action.
Head coach Cris James was disappointed in his team's performance in doubles, as a whole.
"We tried new combinations in our doubles," said James. "We seem to have been able to put together two good teams but we haven't been able to put together three good teams yet. We are trying to figure out how to do that. We split up our usual No. 1 doubles team, thinking that would work, but obviously we haven't found the solution yet, since we lost the point."
Willi Peter and Muddappa Appanervanda lost in the No. 1 spot to Nolan Marks and Ali Shabib, 9-8. In the No. 2 position, Alexander Pelaez and Jusso Ojanen beat Yannick Goosens and Matt Ford, 8-6. Tuomas Manner and Jordan Badenko paired up in the No. 3 spot and lost to Matt Kuelker and Jorg Van Der Vloet, 8-4.
The `Birds were able to put their defeat in doubles behind them and play strong in singles action.
"Tuomas, Skip, and Alex have been leading the way on the singles court," said James. "They are our veteran guys so it's good to have that leadership and consistency. I have been extremely proud of each of their performances lately."
Pelaez finished first for the Redbirds in the No. 1 spot beating Ali Shabib, 6-0, 6-2. Quickly following was Skip Span who defeated Yannick Goosens, 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 position. Cleveland State's Matt Kuelker fell to Manner, 6-3, 6-1, giving ISU its third point of the day.
James feels his younger players on the team need to start following in the steps of the upperclassmen.
"We need our young guys to follow Tuomas, Skip, and Alex' lead in terms of determination and the sheer will to get the job done in singles play."
Appanervanda fell to Nolan Marks, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 in the No. 6 spot while Ojanen was defeated by Jorg Van Der Vloet in the No. 4 position, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. Coming out on top for the `Birds was Peter, who beat Matt Ford, 6-2, 6-4, rounding out the competition with a Redbird victory, 4-3.
James is focused on improvement in doubles and is hopeful for continuous leadership from his veterans.
"I hope the same few guys continue leading the way for us as our season continues," said James. "We are going to keep trying to find ways to get better production in doubles. We want to focus on getting the job done in the beginning of our matches because we can't expect to fall behind and dig ourselves out of a hole against good players."
ISU will travel to Vestal, N.Y. Friday to take on Binghamton. Play is set to begin at 7:30 a.m.
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