Day One Complete At River Forest Collegiate Tennis Invitational

NORMAL, Ill. – It was a busy first day of action at the River Forest Collegiate Tennis Invitational for the Illinois State men's tennis team, as doubles action concluded, and singles matches began for the Redbirds at the River Forest Tennis Club and Oak Park Tennis Center on the clay.

"Today was a day full of emotions, as it's been two years since we last played a tournament and the guys were a little nervous to start with," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "I thought we played some good doubles considering we are trying out a bunch of new pairings. We had some great singles results, but what was great was getting an opportunity to watch our new guys play. We have a full day tomorrow, so I'm excited to see how we come out and I think we will have some good results now that the nerves have calmed down a little."

In singles action, newcomer Dominick Cuchran won his first collegiate singles match over Nathan Favier of Youngstown State 3-6, 6-3 (3) in the No. 4 flight to advance to the winner's bracket tomorrow. He was joined in the winner's bracket by Melker Isaksson, who defeated Luiz Dos Santos of UIC 6-1, 6-4 in flight No. 6. Shu-Lun Change and Min-Chieh Chiu also each won their matches in the No. 7 flight for the Redbirds.

The day began with doubles action and the Redbirds saw some early success. The team of Diego Le Gal Perez and Isaksson won their first-round match in the No. 1 doubles flight before falling in round two and ultimately ending the day with a defeat in the third-place match.

The duo of Pol Botifoll Rius and Arvid Hjalte teamed up at No. 2 and won their first-round match 6-2, but were defeated in round two. However, they rallied to take down the team of Winters/Mosberger from Xavier by a score of 6-4 to win the third-place match. At No. 3, Nam Pham and Cuchran won their first two matches of the day to advance to the championship match but were defeated by Northern Illinois' Vollbach/Koschtojan to take second place.

Two pairs competed in the No. 4 doubles flight, including Zacharias Rasmusson and Min-Chieh Chiu who won their first two matches before falling in their third of the day.  Zane Kohrs paired with Diego Emilio Moura Herrera to pick up a win in their first match of the day, and the partnered with Shu-Lun Chang for the final two of the day, dropping the first but winning the second.

The event will conclude with the final two rounds of singles on Saturday.

Day 1 Results

Singles
No. 1 -     Brett Winters (XU) def. Nam Pham (ISU) 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 -     Francesco Tacconi (UIC) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 -     Gustavo Schwebel (UIC) def. Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) 1-6, 6-4, (8)
No. 4 -     Dominick Cuchran (ISU) def. Nathan Favier (YSU) 3-6, 6-3, (3)
No. 5 -     Marco Pennelli (XU) def. Arvid Hjalte (ISU) 6-2, 7-6 (2)
No. 6 -     Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Luiz Dos Santos (UIC) 6-1, 6-4
No. 7 -     Shu-Lun Chang (ISU) def. Aaron Thompson (XU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 7 -     Ammar Wazir (UIC) def. Zane Kohrs (ISU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 7 -     Min-Chieh Chiu (ISU) def. Christopher Knutson (NIU) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles
No. 1 -     Le Gal Perez/Isaksson (ISU) def. Winters/Nakayama (XU) 6-3
                Mandocescu/Everett (YSU) def. Le Gal Perez/Isaksson (ISU) 6-5 (3)
                Spolidorio/Malinen (NIU) def. Le Gal Perez/Isaksson (ISU) 6-4 (Third Place Match)
No. 2 -     Botifoll/Hjalte (ISU) def. Komis/Phillips (WU) 6-2
                Ortega/Valentinsson (NIU) def. Botifoll/Hjalte (ISU) 6-2
                Botifoll/Hjalte (ISU) def. Winters/Mosberger (XU) 6-4 (Third Place Match)
No. 3 -     Pham/Cuchran (ISU) def. Nguyen/Iremolov (UIC) 6-2
                Pham/Cuchran (ISU) def. Fakouri/Ohl (WU) 6-3
                Vollbach/Koschtojan (NIU) def. Pham/Cuchran (ISU) 6-3 (Championship Match)
No. 4 -     Rasmusson/Chiu (ISU) def. Loudermilk/Macaluso (XU) 6-5 (5)
                Rasmusson/Chiu (ISU) def. Van Donslear/Knutson (NIU) 6-3
                Duclos/Bank (UIC) def. Rasmusson/Chiu (ISU) 6-3
                Kohrs/Herrera (ISU) def. Van Donslear/Knutson (NIU) 6-5
                Thompson/Zipoli (XU) def. Kohrs/Zhang (ISU) 6-3
                Kohrs/Zhang (ISU) def. Loudermilk/Macaluso (XU) 6-3

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