NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's tennis team wrapped up a busy weekend of tennis that saw them play four matches in three days on Sunday with a matinee against Bellarmine. The Redbirds continued their strong weekend with a third straight victory after defeating the Knights 5-2 at the Bloomington Tennis & Turf complex.
"I am very proud of the boys today. We continued playing some great doubles like yesterday and we definitely had a couple chances in the deciding match to get the point," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Credit to the guys for not letting the doubles point loss get them down, as we became all business in the singles and took five of the six matches. Bellarmine is a very good team and came out blazing, but we stepped up and took command on each court to come away with the win."
The duo of Nam Pham and Ming-Chieh Chiu started off doubles with a 7-5 victory at the No. 1 spot, but Bellarmine rallied to win the final two matches by narrow margins to take the doubles point and the early lead.
As the action moved to the singles matches, Diego Le Gal Perez knotted the match up at 1-1 via his straight-set victory over Emil B. Berglund at the No. 2 spot. A 6-2, 7-5, win by Pham at the No. 1 spot over Bellarmine's Cole Groetsch then gave the Redbirds a 2-1 advantage and Diego Emilio Moura Herrera's win at the No. 3 spot gave the Redbirds a 3-1 lead. The match was then secured on a victory by Pol Botifoll Rius at the No. 5 spot, before Bellarmine got its only other point of the match with a win at No. 4. Mike Agee wrapped up the winning effort for the Redbirds with a straight-set 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 6 over Sam Rueff to bring the score final at 5-2.
The Redbirds return to action on Wednesday for a mid-week road match at Saint Louis, with first serve set for noon.
ILLINOIS STATE 5, BELLARMINE 2
Singles Competition
1. Nam Pham (ILS) def. Cole Groetsch (BEL) 6-2, 7-5
2. Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) def. Emil B. Berglund (BEL) 6-1, 6-2
3. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) def. Evan Bottorff (BEL) 7-5, 6-3
4. Paul Reynolds (BEL) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
5. Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) def. Ian Deiters (BEL) 6-1, 6-2
6. Mike Agee (ILS) def. Sam Rueff (BEL) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles Competition
1. Nam Pham/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) def. Cole Groetsch/Evan Bottorff (BEL) 7-5
2. Paul Reynolds/Ian Deiters (BEL) def. Diego Le Gal Perez/Zacharias Rankloo Rasmusson (ILS) 7-5
3. Eli Franks/Emil B. Berglund (BEL) def. Brandon Lew/Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) 7-6
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