NORMAL, Ill. – Nam Pham picked up a win for the Illinois State men's tennis team at the ITA All-American Championship on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before being eliminated in the second round of competition.
"Today was a very challenging day for the guys as weather changes, and match time changes made it really difficult for us to prepare properly but the guys played their hearts out and I was really pleased how they competed," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Nam especially played incredible this morning as we had to drive to Oklahoma State and he played their top player, whom he lost to last year when he was number one at Arkansas. Nam came out blazing and beat him in straight sets and I think that really got the guys fired up for their matches later."
Pham cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Maxim Verboven of Oklahoma State in the first pre-qualifying round, before suffering a tough tiebreaker loss to Gonzaga's Sasha Trkulja in his second match of the day.Â
Diego Le Gal Perez, Arvid Hjalte and Pol Botifoll Rius also competed in the prestigious event Saturday, but each suffered first-round defeats that brought their tournament hopes to a halt.
The Redbirds return to action next weekend, when they host the Redbird Invite in Normal.
Results:
Nam Pham (Illinois State) def. Maxim Verboven (Oklahoma State) 6-4, 6-1
Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) def. Nam Pham (Illinois State) 6-3 4-6 [10-7]
Eban Straker-Meads (Northern Arizona) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (Illinois State) 6-3, 7-5
Austin Abbrat (Texas A&M) def. Arvid Hjalte (Illinois State) 6-3, 6-2
Olimjon Nabiev (Southern Mississippi) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (Illinois State) 6-2, 6-4
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