LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second weekend in a row the Illinois State men's tennis team battled one of the top programs in the country, this time No. 25 ranked Kentucky on the road. The Wildcats showed why they are a Top-25 team, defeating the Redbirds by scores of 7-0 and 4-0 on Saturday at Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
"Today was a tough day as expected, but I have to say the guys fought so hard on each court," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Although we didn't get the win, I believe it was a valuable learning experience for the guys, so they know what it takes to play at that level of a Top-25 team. We will take what we learned and implement it into practice this week before heading next weekend to play Tulsa and Arkansas, a pair of programs that typically rank in the top 50 nationally."
Freshman Ming-Chieh Chiu had the best effort of the day for the Redbirds, as he took Kentucky's Jonathan Sorbo to the limit at the No. 6 spot in the first match of the day. After Sorbo dominated the first set 6-0, Chiu fought back to win the second set 6-7 (4-7) to force a third-set tiebreaker, which Sorbo ultimately won 10-7 to win the hard-fought match for the Wildcats.
ISU return to action Friday, Jan. 29, for a 6 p.m. match at Tulsa, and will then head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, the next day to square off against Arkansas at 3 p.m.Â
MATCH 1: #25 KEN (7), ISU (0)
Singles Competition
1. #45 Liam Draxl (UK) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-2, 6-1
2. Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) 6-4, 6-1
3. Millen Hurrion (UK) def. Nam Pham (ILS) 6-2, 6-3
4. Cesar Bourgois (UK) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) 6-2, 6-2
5. Mathis Moysan (UK) def. Aleksa Lazarevic (ILS) 6-2, 6-4
6. Jonathan Sorbo (UK) def. Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (10-7)
Doubles Competition
1. Cesar Bourgois/Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. Diego Le Gal Perez/Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-3
2. Alexandre Leblanc/Liam Draxl (UK) def. Aleksa Lazarevic/Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) 6-2
3. Millen Hurrion/Ying-Ze Chen (UK) def. Mike Agee/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) 6-1
MATCH 2: #25 KEN (4), ISU (0)
Singles Competition
1. #45 Liam Draxl (UK) def. Nam Pham (ILS) 6-1, 6-1
2. Millen Hurrion (UK) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) 6-0, 6-4
3. Mathis Moysan (UK) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) 6-1, 6-2
4. #114 Alexandre Leblanc (UK) vs. Aleksa Lazarevic (ILS) 6-4, 1-2, unfinished
5. Mike Agee (ILS) vs. Ying-Ze Chen (UK) no result
6. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) vs. Jonathan Sorbo (UK) no result
Doubles Competition
1. Cesar Bourgois/Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. Pol Botifoll Rius/Aleksa Lazarevic (ILS) 6-2
2. Liam Draxl/Alexandre Leblanc (UK) def. Diego Le Gal Perez/Zacharias Rankloo Rasmusson (ILS) 6-2
3. Millen Hurrion/Ying-Ze Chen (UK) def. Brandon Lew/Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) 6-0
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