NORMAL, Ill. – Following a much-needed rest after a busy spring break trip out West, Illinois State returns to the court for a pair of mid-week contest against Saint Louis on Wednesday and Omaha on Thursday at the Evergreen Racquet Club.
"This is a huge week for us as we play a tough out of conference match against Saint Louis at home and then play our first conference match against Omaha on Thursday," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "That will be a huge test, but we are looking forward to getting conference play underway and at home."
The Redbirds went 1-2 on their spring trip to the West Coast, with a win over Grand Canyon in Las Vegas and losses to Northern Arizona and UNLV. In the win over nationally ranked Grand Canyon, the Redbirds picked up the early doubles point with a win at No. 2 by Melker Isaksson and Diego Le Gal Perez and a win by the No. 1 duo of Arvid Hjalte and Zane Kohrs. Singles wins by Le Gal Perez, Nam Pham and Pol Botifoll Rius then secured the victory for the Redbirds.
Saint Louis heads into Wednesday's match with a 5-8 record this spring and most recently competed against Butler on March 13, falling by a score of 4-0. The Billikens have lost five of their last six matches overall, with the lone win in that stretch coming against Eastern Illinois on March 9.
Omaha will play at Northern Illinois on Wednesday, before heading south to take on the Redbirds in the Summit League opener for both squads. The Mavericks hold a 7-12 record this spring and are coming off a big win on Saturday against cross-town foe Creighton. Hugo Piles Ballester won a third-set tiebreaker 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) at No. 4 singles to give the UNO a 4-3 victory over the Bluejays.
Live video and stats links for both matches can be found on the men's tennis schedule page on GoRedbirds.com.
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