March 4, 2012
Stats
VESTAL, N.Y. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team dropped to Dartmouth Sunday at the Events Center in Vestal, N.Y, 5-2. The loss concluded the action packed weekend for the Redbirds while Tuomas Manner went undefeated in singles play throughout the three days of competition.
The `Birds started the competition strong, winning the doubles point going into singles action.
Alexander Pelaez and Manner defeated Xander Centenari and Michael Laser in the No. 1 spot, 8-4. Skip Span and Jusso Ojanen were the next doubles team to finish, beating Alex de Chatellus and Chris Kipouras in the No. 3 position, 8-6, giving the `Birds their first point of the day and causing Muddappa Appanervanda and Willi Peter's match against Brandon DeBot and Cameron Ghorbani in the No. 2 spot to go unfinished.
Head coach Cris James thought his team played their best doubles performance of the year.
"I was really happy with doubles," said James. "It was our third match of the weekend so they had every right to be tired, but they came out strong, started fast, and gave great effort."
In the No. 1 singles position, Pelaez lost to Michael Laser, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Xander Centenari fell to Manner in the No. 2 spot, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, giving ISU their second point of the day. Span was defeated in the No. 3 position by Cameron Ghorbani, 6-3, 6-3.
James was disappointed in the results at the No. 4-6 spots in singles action.
"I thought our young guys would learn from some of their mistakes made earlier this weekend," said James. "But the same things were happening today. It's not like they are not fighting hard or trying hard, but they have to figure out how to get the job done and stop second guessing themselves. They have to step up."
Ojanen lost to Chris Kipouras in the No. 4 position, 6-4, 6-3 while Brandon DeBot beat Appanervanda, 6-3, 7-5, in the No. 5 spot. Peter fell to Chris Ho in the No. 6 position, 7-6, 4-6, 10-3.
"At the end of the day, we are pretty disappointed," said James. "We had our chances and couldn't capitalize. As for the weekend, overall, we definitely improved our doubles, so I hope to see that continue. If we can improve our confidence and have some of our young guys step up in the important moments and really go for it, I'm sure we will see better results."
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