NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's tennis team will look to extend its winning streak Saturday afternoon when it takes on the Ball State Cardinals. The match will mark only the second home bout for the Redbirds this season and the first at the Gregory Street Courts.
Following Saturday's match, ISU will battle another Mid-American Conference foe in Northern Illinois at home Sunday afternoon. Both matches are schedule to start at 1 p.m. CST.
"This is going to be a tough weekend for us as we are playing last year's regular season and tournament champs of the MAC," said head coach Mark Klysner. "Both are very good and experienced teams."
The Redbirds (6-7, 0-1) are coming off back-to-back road victories against Idaho and Seattle. Highlighted by great play from junior Jakub Eisner, who went undefeated in singles play on the recent road trip, and freshman Christoffer Greve, who has contributed four total wins in the last three matches, ISU was able to secure the last two matches on the west coast and improve its record to 6-7. Â
Junior Rolando Torrellas and sophomore Dylan Steffens are both riding two match win steaks, while junior Rodrigo Oliveira and freshman Andreas Boers have paired for consecutive match victories in doubles play.
"We have had a slew of injuries and could be missing up to three of our starters," said Klysner. "This will be a good mental test on the guys to step up and fill in those positions. Lucky for us, we get to play on our home courts, and so we will look for that to play in our advantage."
After the weekend matches, the Redbirds will head to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to compete in the MTSU Shootout, March 27-29. Illinois State's next home match will be on April 4 at 11 a.m., when ISU squares off against conference rival Southern Illinois.
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