Redbirds Travel to Tennessee for Three Weekend Matches

NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's tennis team returns to action this weekend, when it heads to the state of Tennessee for a trio of matches. On Friday, the Redbirds will compete against Austin Peay in Clarksville (2 p.m.), before heading to Nashville on Saturday for a split doubleheader against Tennessee State (10 a.m.) and Belmont (3 p.m.).

Thoughts from Coach Klysner:
"This will be a tough weekend for us, as we are playing some very good teams whom we don't see too often. I feel like we are gaining momentum each week and the guys are buying into the system. I expect us to keep playing some high-level tennis."

Redbird Notes:
The Redbirds went 3-1 last weekend to improve to 4-3 overall in the spring season. The Redbirds hosted four matches in two days at the Bloomington Tennis Center against the likes of Eastern Illinois, UIS, Western Michigan and Prairie State. ISU swept its Friday matches with identical 6-1 finals against EIU and UIS and split on Saturday. The Redbirds were led by newcomer Melker Isaakson, who went 4-0 in singles matches last week to bring his spring record to 7-0 through the first two weeks of competition. Isaakson also went 3-1 in doubles action, competing with several different partners as the Redbirds continue to work on doubles pairings early in the season.

About the Governors:
The Governors fell short during their home opener against Chattanooga, 7-0, last weekend. Hunter Sanders made his 2019-20 season debut alongside fellow newcomer Oliver Andersson, but the duo dropped their No. 3 doubles match. In doubles play, the Govs rolled out the exact same lineup as they did against Lipscomb, only to find the same result in dropping all three matches to bring Austin Peay's spring record to 0-4 overall. 

About the Tigers:
The Tigers had a rough start to their spring season with a tough loss against Appalachian State, 4-0. Last weekend, they were defeated by Troy, 7-0, to move their record to 0-2 this spring as they head into the match against Illinois State on Saturday.

About the Bruins:
Belmont defeated Troy, 5-2, last Friday night to pick up its first win of the spring campaign. The Bruins and Trojans battled back and forth, with three singles matches going the distance. Belmont earned the doubles' point in short order as the pairings of Felix Rauch/Taisei Miyamoto and Hendrik Inno/Marko Ilic each won convincingly, 6-2. Troy got on the board behind Carles Anton, before Rauch and freshman Arthur Toledo put Belmont over the top with hard-earned, three-set victories. 

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