NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's tennis team took a tough loss, 5-2, to Western Michigan Saturday morning, but came back with a win against Prairie State, 6-1, at the Bloomington Tennis Center in the second match of the day for the Redbirds.
"Overall I thought it was a great weekend for us, as I saw a lot of significant improvements in certain guys and our doubles is starting to become more of a strength for us," head coach Mark Klysner said. "I'm also very pleased with how our freshmen are playing and picking up a lot of wins early in the season."
Illinois State came up short in their first match of the day against Western Michigan. The Broncos secured the doubles point, but the Redbirds bounced back with a pair of wins in singles action. Jorge Bartra def. Peter Kuszynski 6-3, 6-7, 12-10 and newcomer Melker Isaksson defeated Honnappa 6-2, 6-4, to record points for ISU.
In Illinois State's second match against Praire State, the Redbirds came back strong to defeat the Pioneers, 6-1. During doubles competition, Zacharias Rankloo Rasmusson and Melker Isaksson (ISU) defeated Renan/Kormann, 6-4. That was followed by another doubles win from the duo of Branden Lew and Cameron Petersen, who defeated Jedrzej Brodski/Nehmia Zewdu Molla, 6-3. ISU had little trouble in singles action against the Pioneers, with ISU earning four wins to close things out.
ISU (2) WMU (5)
Doubles:
Optiz/ Kuszynski (WMU) def. Diego Le Gal Perez/Jorge Adair Bartra Quispe (ISU) 6-2
Aleksa Lazarevic/Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) def. Randall/Honnappa (WMU) 6-3
Faveri/Nouchi (WMU) def. Melker Isaksson/ Brandon Lew (ISU) 6-3
Singles:
Jannik Optiz (WMU) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) 6-1, 6-4
Kennosuke Nouchi (WMU) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) 6-0, 6-3
Jorge Adair Bartra Quispe (ISU) def. Peter Kuszynski (WMU) 6-3, 6-7, 12-10
Jack Randall (WMU) def. Nam Pham (ISU) 7-6, 6-3
Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Arjun Honnappa (WMU) 6-2, 6-4
Zac Faveri (WMU) def. Aleksa Lazarevic
ISU (6) Prairie State (1)
Doubles:
Marek Slojewski/ Victor Dieltiens (PSC) def. Nam Pham/ Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) 6-4
Zacharias Rankloo Rasmusson/Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Renan/Kormann (PSC) 6-4
Brandon Lew/Cameron Petersen (ISU) def. Jedrzej Brodski/ Nehmia Zewdu Molla (PSC) 6-3
Singles:
Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) def. Marek Slowjewski (PSC) 6-1, 6-3
Nam Pham (ISU) def. Panashe Garah (PSC) 6-1, 6-1
Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Renan Kormann (PSC) 6-1, 6-1
Victor Dieltiens (PSC) def. Brandon Lew (ISU) 7-5,4-3
Cameron Petersen (ISU) def. Richard Ngwarwi (PSC) 6-2, 7-5
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
