Redbirds Wrap Up Play At River Forest Collegiate Tennis Invitational

NORMAL, Ill. – The second day at the River Forest Collegiate Tennis Invitational was all about the singles matches, as each of the seven flights had several matches to round out their brackets at the annual clay court tournament held at the River Forest Tennis Club and Oak Park Tennis Center.

"I was very pleased with how today went," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "We came out with a lot more composure, competed so well and picked up a lot of big wins today. Overall, I think we played as well as expected being as early in the fall as it is, and I really liked what I saw from our newcomers as well."

In the No. 6 singles flight, Melker Isaksson added to his first-round win with a semifinal win over Xavier's Shashank Reddy in the semifinals to advance to the championship match. Isaksson battled to a tiebreaker in the title contest, but Armin Koschtojan of Northern Illinois came away with the 6-1, 2-6 (8) victory.

At the No. 1 spot Nam Pham rallied after a first-round loss on Friday to win both of his matches on Saturday to take fifth place overall, after defeating Saint Louis' Theo Ortis by a score of 6-2, 6-0 in the fifth-place match. Pol Botifoll Rius and Diego Le Gal Perez each won their second-round matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, but did not play their fifth place matches due to unforeseen circumstances.

Newcomer Dominick Cuchran was playing in the winner's bracket after a first round-win on Friday but lost his first match Saturday in the semifinals to move onto the third-place match, where he defeated Anthony Nguyen of UIC by a score of 7-5, 6-1. Fellow newcomer Arvid Hjalte bounced back after a loss in his first match of the day to come back and defeat Eastern Illinois' Max Pilipovic 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 flight seventh-place match. 

Transfer Zane Kohrs rounded out a solid weekend with a pair of wins in flight No. 7 over Theo Duclos of UIC and Dominic Macaluso of Xavier to cap things off for the Redbirds. 

The Redbirds will now wait to see if any are selected for the ITA All-American meet the first weekend of October, before they return home to host the Redbird Invitational Oct. 8-10.

Day 2 Results

Singles
No. 1 -     Nam Pham (ISU) def. Kris Ortega (NIU) 6-2, 6-4
                Nam Pham (ISU) def. Theo Ortis (SLU) 6-2, 6-0 (Fifth Place Match)
No. 2 -     Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) def. David Alvarez (YSU) 6-7, 6-3, (4)
                Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) vs. Gaurav Singh (WU) (Fifth Place Match Not Played Due To Injury)
No. 3 -     Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) def. Pascal Mosberger (XU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 10-5
                Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) vs. Javi Pla (YSU) (Fifth Place Match Note Played Due To Schedule Change)
No. 4 -     Cambell Nakayama (XU) def. Dominick Cuchran (ISU) 6-3, 0-6, 10-7
                Dominick Cuchran (ISU) def. Anthony Nguyen (UIC) 7-5, 6-1 (Third Place Match)
No. 5 -     Pavel Badaiants (SLU) def. Arvid Hjalte (ISU) 6-4, 6-2
                Arvid Hjalte (ISU) def. Max Pilipovic (EIU) 6-1, 6-2 (Seventh Place Match)
No. 6 -     Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Shashank Reddy (XU) 6-4, 6-3
                Armin Koschtojan (NIU) def. Melker Isaksson (ISU) 6-1, 2-6 (8) (Championship Match)
No. 7 -     Aaron Thompson (XU) def. Zacharias Rasmusson (ISU) 4-6, 6-3, 10-5
No. 7 -     Zane Kohrs (ISU) def. Theo Duclos (UIC) 6-1, 6-0
                Zane Kohrs (ISU) def. Dominic Macaluso (XU) 6-1, 6-2

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