LEXINGTON, Ky. – After opening the season last weekend with a doubleheader against a talented Notre Dame team, the Illinois State men's tennis program has another tall challenge in front of it this weekend as the Redbirds take on the 25th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in a Saturday doubleheader at 9 a.m. CT and 1 p.m.
"I am looking forward to this match very much, as we get to play the No. 25 team in the country," head coach Mark Klysner said. "It will be great for the guys to see where we stand with one of the top programs in the nation. We've had a good week of practice and my hopes are we just keep improving from match to match."
The Redbirds dropped a pair of decisions to the Irish last weekend in South Bend, Indiana, to open the 2021 campaign. The duo of Pol Botifoll Rius and Aleksa Lazarevic defeated Notre Dame's Matthew Halpin and Jean-Marc Malkowski at the No. 3 doubles spot in the first match to get things started for the Redbirds and Nam Pham came away with a tough 7-6, 7-6 win in the final match of the doubleheader at the No. 4 spot against Notre Dame's Malkowski.
Kentucky earned 24 combined singles and doubles wins during their competitions in fall of 2020, including 18 at the Commodore Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee. The Wildcats' last of dual competition came during the spring 2020 season that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when they produced a 12-5 overall record.
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