NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Illinois State men's tennis team wrapped up a busy weekend of tennis in Tennessee on Saturday, as the Redbirds took on Vanderbilt at the Currey Tennis Center. The Commodores jumped out to an early lead and came away with a 6-1 win over the Redbirds to wrap up the weekend.
"It was another tough match today, but we played much better than we did yesterday," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "So, I'm happy with the effort we gave. Vanderbilt just played such big tennis and it was really tough for some of the guys to get comfortable in their matches. Congrats to Diego for pulling out a grinder in three sets in the final one of the day."
Vanderbilt took the early advantage by winning the doubles point and then went on to win the first five singles matches. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera was determined to help his team not come away emptyhanded and took Vanderbilt's Connor Robb-Wilcox to the limit at the No. 6 spot. After falling behind via a tiebreaker in set one, Herrera took the second set by score of 7-5 to send the match to a third-set tiebreaker. The two went back and forth, but it was Herrera who came out on top 10-8 to win the tiebreaker and the match and give the Redbirds their lone point of the day.
ISU returns to the court on Wednesday at noon for a match with the Saint Louis Billikens in St. Louis, Missouri. The Redbirds will then return home to host their first matches of the 2021 season over the weekend at the Bloomington Tennis & Turf complex.
RESULTS: VANDERBILT (6), ILLINOIS STATE (1)
Singles Competition
1. #117 George Harwell (VANDY) def. Nam Pham (ILS) 6-0, 6-1
2. Marcus Ferreira (VANDY) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) 6-1, 6-1
3. Macsen Sisam (VANDY) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-2, 6-1
4. Jeremie Casabon (VANDY) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) 6-0, 6-1
5. Joubert Klopper (VANDY) def. Mike Agee (ILS) 6-3, 6-1
6. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) def. Connor Robb-Wilcox (VANDY) 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, 1-0 (10-8)
Doubles Competition
1. Marcus Ferreira/Macsen Sisam (VANDY) def. Diego Le Gal Perez/Zacharias Rankloo Rasmusson (ILS) 6-3
2. George Harwell/Connor Robb-Wilcox (VANDY) def. Nam Pham/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) 6-4
3. Jeremie Casabon/Adam Sraberg (VANDY) def. Melker Isaksson/Shu-Lun Chang (ILS) 6-0
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