ST. LOUIS – After nearly 10 days off from competition, the Illinois State men's tennis team was back in action on Wednesday for a midweek match against Saint Louis. It was a close match throughout, but the Redbirds ultimately prevailed by a score of 4-2 over the Billikens indoors at the St. Clair Tennis Club in O'Fallon, Ill.
"This was a close one and a match we could have easily let go," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "I wouldn't say we played collectively our best, but I don't want to take anything away from SLU who played extremely well. We managed to play some solid doubles for the second match in a row and that only helped us in the singles to fall back on. Either way we will take the win and now prepare for a monster match on Sunday against Denver."
ISU got out to a good start in doubles, with the No. 2 team of Tin Ostro and Emiliano Gonzales picking up a 6-3 victory and then the No. 3 team of Nam Pham and Ming-Chieh Chiu rallying to win 6-3 as well to secure the doubles point for the Redbirds.
The action then moved to singles, and the Billikens tied things up at 1-1 after Adam Behun defeated Illinois State's Melker Isaksson in straight sets 6-3, 6-0. Pham then gave the Redbirds the lead back at 2-1, after he scratched his way to a 7-6, 6-1 victory over SLU's Ryota Fukushima at the No. 1 spot. The ISU lead extened to 3-1 following a 6-1, 6-4 win by Gonzalez over Sansh Kumar at the No. 6 spot.
Saint Louis would not go away easy though, as Luca Lo Nardo defeated Tomas Valencia by a narrow 7-5, 7-6 score to make the score 3-2 in favor of ISU. With the No. 5 match locked in a third set tie, ISU's No. 2 player Arvid Hjalte battled back after dropping the first set to Theo Ortis clinch the match for the Redbirds with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory to move the team's winning streak to three matches in a row.
The Redbirds return to action on Sunday when they host Summit League leader and No. 66 ranked Denver at the Gregory Street Courts. First serve is set for 10 a.m.
FINAL SCORE: Illinois State (4), Saint Louis (2)
Doubles:
No. 1 Arvid Hjalte/Adrian Dibildox (ILS) vs. Ryota Fukushima/Theo Ortis (SLU) 4-4 unfinished
No. 2 Tin Ostro/Emiliano Gonzales (ILS) def. Eliott Ekindi/Luca Lo Nardo (SLU) 6-3
No. 3 Nam Pham/Ming-Chieh Chiu (ILS) vs. Adam Behun/Jonathan Sadowski (SLU) 6-3
Singles:
No. 1 Nam Pham (ILS) def. Ryota Fukushima (SLU) 7-6, 6-1
No. 2 Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Theo Ortis (SLU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Adam Behun (SLU) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 Luca Lo Nardo (SLU) def. Tomas Valencia (ILS) 7-5, 7-6
No. 5 Jonathan Sadowski (SLU) def. Adrian Dibildox (ILS) 1-6, 6-1, 5-3 unfinished
No. 6 Emiliano Gonzales (ILS) vs. Sansh Kumar (SLU) 6-1, 6-4
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