NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's tennis team improved to 3-0 last weekend to start the spring season for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, thanks to a pair of wins Sunday over IUPUI and Chicago State after defeating UIC Friday at the Evergreen Racquet Club.
The Redbirds return to action on Friday, Jan. 27, for a lunchtime match at Ball State, before heading to Champaign, Illinois, on Saturday for matches against Butler (2 p.m.) and the host Illini (6 p.m.).
Last Friday, against UIC in the spring opener, the Redbirds took the early advantage after Adrian Dibildox and Arvid Hjalte picked up a 7-6 to secure the point for the Redbirds.
As singles action began, it was freshman Tomas Valencia that picked up the first win in straight sets over Miroslav Cvjetan 6-3, 6-0, to make it 2-0 in favor of ISU. The veteran Hjalte then took care of business in quick fashion 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 to make it 3-0 and Dominick Cuchran clinched the victory for the Redbirds at the No. 6 spot with a defeat of Ammar Wazir 6-3, 6-4. The Flames' lone point of the day came on court No. 3 from Pelle Strandberg over Isaksson.
On Sunday, IUPUI took the doubles point before ISU rallied to win five of the six singles matches to come away with a 5-2 win over the Jaguars. Nam Pham, Arvid Hjalte, Adrian Dibildox and Dominick Cuchran each picked up straight-set victories, while Melker Isaksson picked up a three-set victory at the No. 3 spot to end things on a high note. The Redbirds followed that up with a strong nightime performance against Chicago State, winning doubles and five out of six singles to pick up the third team win of the early spring season.
Friday's match against Ball State will take place at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center in Muncie. The Cardinals come into the match after picking up their first win of the spring over Eastern Illinois last weekend by a final of 7-0.
A trip to Champaign to take on the Bulldogs of Butler and the host Illini is in store for Illinois State Saturday, with ISU's first match of the day scheduled against Butler. The Bulldogs hold a 3-1 spring record heading into Saturday's action after picking up wins ove UIC, IUPUI, and Youngstown State while holding a loss to Western Michigan.
Then, it is the in-state foes facing off Saturday night as the host Illini are 2-2 coming into Saturday after defeating Wichita State and Bryant, but have dropped consecutive results to Kentucky and Ohio State.
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