NORMAL, Ill. – Despite some chilly temperatures in Normal on Friday, the action on the Gregory Street Courts was extremely intense and the Redbirds capitalized with an 11-3 overall mark on the first day of action at the Redbird Invitational.
The Redbirds got off to a great start, going 2-2 in doubles play before rolling off a 9-1 mark in singles matches.
"What a great start to the tournament," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "The guys just played so well and competed equally hard on every court. Nam (Pham) and Tomás (Valencia) beat a couple of good Central Florida players in singles, after losing the doubles match to them. We saw that kind of play all day long where maybe we didn't win the doubles point, but the guys would come out in the singles playing extremely well. It's tough to do any better than what we did today."
In doubles play, Arvid Hjalte and Adrian Dibildox picked up an 8-5 win over the team of Cvjetan and Wazir from UIC white doubles flight and in the black doubles flight, newcomers Dominic Anderson and Emiliano Gonzales rolled to an 8-3 win over Lindenwood's DePrada and Martin.
Nam Pham and Tomás Valencia bounced back from a doubles loss to each pick up wins in their singles matches over Snyder and Sanchez from Central Florida in straight sets. In the white singles flight, the Redbirds went 4-0 with Hjalte, Dibildox, Melker Isaksson and Dominick Cuchran each picking up victories.
Gonzales and Anderson each also picked up wins to finish the day undefeated and freshman Caden Scarlett rounded out the stellar singles play in the grey flight, with a tough three-set win over UIC's Iermolov by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.
Action resumes on Saturday at 11 a.m. with doubles matches, followed by singles immediately after.
Red Doubles:
Sanchez/Snyder (UCF) def. Pham/Valencia (ILS) 8-2
White Doubles:
Hjalte/Dibildox (ILS) def. Cvjetan/Wazir (UIC) 8-5
Wallace/Carlin (EIU) def. Isaksson/Cuchran 8-7
Black Doubles:
Anderson/Gonzales (ILS) def. DePrada/Martin (LIN) 8-3
Red Singles:
Pham (ILS) def. Snyder (UCF) 6-3, 7-5
Valencia (ILS) def. Sanchez (UCF) 6-4, 7-5
White Singles:
Hjalte (ILS) def. Cvjetan (UIC) 6-4, 6-1
Dibildox (ILS) def. Wazir (UIC) 6-3, 6-2
Isaksson (ILS) def. Wallace (EIU) 6-4, 6-2
Cuchran (ILS) def. Carlin (EIU) 6-3, 1-6, 10-7
Black Singles:
Gonzales (ILS) def. DePrada (LIN) 4-6, 6-3,10-6
Anderson (ILS) def. Martin (LIN) 6-1, 6-4
Grey Singles:
Scarlett (ILS) def. Iermolov (UIC) 6-2, 4-6, 10-8
Kruzel (UIC) def. Chiu (ILS) 6-7, 6-0, 10-3
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