BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The start of Summit League play began for both Illinois State and Omaha on Thursday and it was the Redbirds who got the early advantage in the conference standings with a 5-2 win over the Mavericks at the Evergreen Racquet Club.
"What a great match today and such a huge win for the boys," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "We came out in the doubles and played well but couldn't really play at the level of Omaha today. What a difference in the singles though, as our guys came out on fire on every court. Picking up first sets on 1,3,4 and 5 was big to make the guys believe we could pull off the comeback. Hats off to a really good Omaha squad who took it to us last year and so it feels really good to get one back this year."
The Mavericks picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to secure the early advantage. As the action moved to singles play, it was Nam Pham at No. 1 who picked up a 6-2, 6-4 win over UNO's Matt Hulme to tie things up at 1-1. UNO regained the lead at 2-1 after a win by Todd Chen over Pol Botifoll Rius 6-2, 6-3, at No. 2. However, that would be the final point of the day for the Mavericks as Diego Le Gal Perez picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 4 to tie the match at 2-2.
A 6-1, 6-3 win by Diego Emilio Moura Herrera over UNO's Victor Sklenka at No. 5 then put the Redbirds for the first time in the match at 3-2 and just a minute later, Melker Isaksson clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mikhail Korkunov on court No. 3. For good measure, Arvid Hjalte rallied back after losing the first set to take the second set 6-1 and then won a third-set tiebreaker 10-8 at No. 6 to bring the score to its final at 5-2.
The Redbirds are back in action on Friday, April 1, when they host Drake for a 2 p.m. conference match. ISU will then host North Dakota on Saturday, April 2, to complete a busy weekend of Summit League play.
FINAL SCORE: Illinois State (5), Omaha (2)
Singles:Â
1. Nam Pham (ISU) def. Matt Hulme (OMAHA) 6-2, 6-4
2. Todd Chen (OMAHA) def. Pol Botifoll Rius (ISU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Melker Isaksson (ISU) def. Mikhail Korkunov (OMAHA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Diego Le Gal Perez (ISU) def. Hugo Piles Ballester (OMAHA) 6-2, 6-2
5. Diego Emilio Moura Herrera (ISU) def. Victor Sklenka (OMAHA) 6-1, 6-3
6. Arvid Hjalte (ISU) def. Alvaro Quintana (OMAHA) 4-6, 6-1, 10-8
Doubles:
1. Matt Hulme/Mikhail Korkunov (OMAHA) def. Arvid Hjalte/Zane Kohrs (ISU) 6-3
2. Diego Le Gal Perez/Melker Isaksson (ISU) vs. Ethan Henry/Hugo Piles Ballester (OMAHA) 5-4, unfinished
3. Todd Chen/Victor Sklenka (OMAHA) def. Nam Pham/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ISU) 6-2
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