WILMINGTON, N.C. – The second match at the Battle at the Beach for the Illinois State men's tennis team went down to the wire against Youngstown State, as a win by the Penguins on court No. 3 in the final contest of the match gave them a narrow 4-3 win over the Redbirds Friday morning in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The doubles point was highly contested, as the Redbirds jumped out to the early advantage thanks to a win by the No. 2 duo of Ming-Chieh Chiu and Tin Ostro over Youngstown State's David Alvarez Moreno and Will Everett by a score of 6-1. The Penguins then tied things up with a 6-4 win at the No. 3 spot, leaving the doubles point up to the outcome on court No. 1. That match had to go to a tiebreaker, but eventually it was YSU's Clement Mainguy and Nathan Favier who edged out ISU's Arvid Hjalte and Adrian Dibildox to pick up the crucial first point of the match.
As the action moved to singles, Youngstown State took a 3-0 lead in the match with wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots. However, the Redbirds battled back to tie things up at 3-3 after some gutsy performances. Dibildox put the Redbirds on the scoreboard first with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Javier Gonzalez Pla at the No. 5 spot and Nam Pham trimmed the lead to one for the Penguins after his win at the No. 1 spot after dropping the first set to Laurentiu Mandocescu before winning the final two sets for the victory.
A tough three-set win for Melker Isaksson at the No. 4 spot over Will Everett by a final score of 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 then tied things up, leaving the match up to the result on court No. 3. ISU's Tomás Valencia took the first set 6-3, but YSU's Nathan Favier rallied to win the final two sets by scores of 6-4 in each to secure the fourth and deciding match point for the Penguins.
The Redbirds wrap up action at the Battle at the Beach on Sunday against a familiar foe, when they take on in-state rival DePaul at Noon before returning home to resume classes.
FINAL SCORE: Youngstown State (4), Illinois State (3)
Doubles:
No. 1 Clement Mainguy/Nathan Favier (YSU) def. Arvid Hjalte/Adrian Dibildox (ILS) 7-6
No. 2 Ming-Chieh Chiu/Tin Ostro (ILS) vs. David Alvarez Moreno/Will Everett (YSU) 6-1Â Â Â
No. 3 Laurentiu Mandocescu/Harry Fouzas (YSU) def. Dominick Cuchran/Dominic Anderson (ILS) 6-4
Singles:
No. 1 Nam Pham (ILS) def. Laurentiu Mandocescu (YSU) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 Clement Mainguy (YSU) def. Arvid Hjalte (ILS) 7-5, 6-3
No. 3 Nathan Favier (YSU) def. Tomás Valencia (ILS) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 Melker Isaksson (ILS) def. Will Everett (YSU) 5-7, 7-5, 6-0
No. 5 Adrian Dibildox (ILS) def. Javier Gonzalez Pla (YSU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 Harry Fouzas (YSU) def. Tin Ostro (ILS) 6-3, 6-2
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