NORMAL, Ill. – Another weekend of tough competition on the road awaits the Illinois State men's tennis program, as the Redbirds travel to Tulsa on Friday (11 a.m.) and Arkansas on Saturday (3 p.m.) to continue a grueling season-opening road trip.
"We are really looking forward to this weekend, as we've always had great results when playing Tulsa and Arkansas," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Our team is a little banged up at the moment and we'll be missing a couple key guys from the lineup, but I look at that as simply an opportunity for some of the younger guys to step up and play some good tennis."
The Redbirds dropped a pair of matches last weekend to No. 25 ranked Kentucky on the road in Lexington, after opening the season the weekend prior with two contests at Notre Dame. This weekend's matches will be the fifth and sixth in a 12-match road stretch to open the 2021 season for ISU.
Tulsa is off to a 0-2 start the season, and last competed on Jan. 19 at home against the No. 6 ranked TCU Horned Frogs. Â The Golden Hurricane took a 1-0 lead and made a strong push, but ultimately dropped a 4-1 decision at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The roster features Kody Pearson and Connor DiMarco, who each received Oracle ITA Division I national preseason rankings. Pearson starts the season ranked 67th in the singles top-125 ITA rankings, while the doubles team of Pearson and Connor DiMarco are ranked No. 29 as the ITA ranked the top 60 doubles teams.
Arkansas (2-0) opened the dual season with a pair of victories against the Omaha Mavericks on Jan. 15. The Razorbacks swept all 12 singles matches en route to their season-opening wins. The Hogs were led last spring by Alex Reco and Enrique Paya during the dual season. Reco went 9-1 in singles play and is ranked No. 72 by the ITA, while Paya has racked up 21 wins the past two dual seasons.
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