Redbirds Fall In Close 4-3 Match At IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS – Illinois State took an early lead after securing the doubles point against IUPUI on Saturday, but the Jaguars rallied to win four of six singles matches to come away with a 4-3 win over the Redbirds at the West Indy Racquet Club.

"This was a tough one to swallow," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "We played some of our best doubles so far this year. Singles we competed and fought our butts off, but a couple points here and there made the difference. We were pretty unlucky this week only getting in really one practice but none the less, we will get it together for tomorrow and give Butler everything we got."

The Redbirds started strong, sweeping all three doubles match to take the early advantage. The No. 1 team of Zane Kohrs and Arvid Hjalte took down IUPUI's top tandem of Alex Jochim and Emil Jankowski by a score of 7-5. The No. 2 duo of Melker Isaksson and Diego Le Gal Perez wasted little time in a 6-0 sweep to pick up a win and the No. 3 tandem of Nam Pham and Ming-Chieh Chiu rolled to a 6-2 win to give the Redbirds the early momentum.

In singles action Pol Botifoll Rius picked up a win at No. 2 over IUPUI's Colton Morehart in three sets and Le Gal Perez picked up a win at No. 4 in three sets over Jankowski. However, IUPUI picked up close wins at No. 1 and No. 5 and straight-set victories at No. 3 and No. 6 singles to squeak by with the 4-3 win.

ISU wraps up its weekend in Indianapolis tomorrow morning, with a 9:30 a.m. match against Butler at the Butler Bubble.

FINAL SCORE: IUPUI (4), Illinois State (3)

Singles: 
1. Alex Jochim (IUPUI) def. Nam Pham (ILS) 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 
2. Pol Botifoll Rius (ILS) def. Colton Morehart (IUPUI) 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
3. Sean Bailey (IUPUI) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-1, 6-4 
4. Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) def. Emil Jankowski (IUPUI) 6-7, 6-2, 7-6
5. Kamil Kozerski (IUPUI) def. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ILS) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 
6. Nate Day (IUPUI) def. Dominick Cuchran (ILS) 6-3, 6-3
 
Doubles: 
1. Zane Kohrs/Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Alex Jochim/ Emil Jankowski (IUPUI) 7-5
2. Melker Isaksson/Diego Le Gal Perez (ILS) def. Blessing Benibo/Colton Morehart (IUPUI) 6-0
3. Nam Pham/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) def. Sean Bailey/Nate Day (IUPUI) 6-2

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