April 1, 2012
ORLANDO, Fla. -
The Illinois State men's tennis team completed its second match of the weekend Sunday against Central Florida at the UCF Tennis Complex in Orlando, Fla. The Redbirds fell to UCF, 5-2.
Competition began well as the `Birds won 2-of-3 matches in doubles play. Alexander Pelaez and Tuomas Manner teamed up in the No. 1 spot and beat Mitch Thams and Joe Delinks, 8-5. In the No. 2 position Skip Span and Jusso Ojanen dropped to Erik Brunskog and Juan Bolona, 8-6. Willi Peter and Jordan Badenko won their match in the No. 3 spot against Matthew Gladstone and Eugene Dolgovykh, 8-1, giving ISU the first point of the day.
Head coach Cris James was impressed with Manner as he fought for his win in the third spot in singles action. Manner beat Mitch Thams, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, giving the `Birds their only win in singles play.
"Tuomas lost his first set really easy," said James. "But then he fought a little harder, dug a little deeper, and he did what was necessary to win."
In the No. 1 spot, Pelaez fell to Jorge Blasco, 6-4, 6-2 while Span dropped in the No. 2 position to Erik Brunskog 6-1, 6-2. Ojanen lost in the No. 4 spot to Juan Bolona, 6-3, 6-7, 10-7 as Peter fell to Mario Samson 6-1, 7-6 in the No. 5 position. In the No. 6 spot Badenko dropped to Joe Delinks, 6-2, 6-4, rounding out the competition.
"I'm disappointed," said James. "I don't think we displayed very much confidence this weekend. We had more opportunities today than we did yesterday. It was a pretty winnable match, we just didn't show the required confidence to win."
The Redbirds will be back in action Friday when they host their first outdoor match against Creighton at the Gregory Street Tennis Courts. Play is set to begin at 2 p.m.
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