KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A busy weekend of tennis wrapped up on Saturday afternoon in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the Illinois State men's tennis team as the Redbirds fell by a final score of 4-2 to the Dayton Flyers in a neutral-site match.
The doubles point came down to the final match to decide which team would take home the first point of the match. Dayton picked up a win at the No. 1 spot, but the No. 2 team of Tom Bevan and Arvid Hjalte defeated Matt DeMarco and Ronit Hiryur by a score of 6-3 to tie things up. That left the decision to court three, where the Flyers pulled out a close 7-5 victory to secure the crucial doubles point.
As singles action began, the Redbirds quickly tied things up as Hjalte wasted little time in picking up a 6-1, 6-2 win over DeMarco at the No. 2 spot to make the score 1-1. Wins at the No. 3 and No. 6 spots for Dayton would then give the Flyers a 3-1 advantage, before Tomas Valencia defeated Luis Saraiva by a score of 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 5 spot to make it 3-2 in favor of Dayton. The Flyers would then clinch the match with a win on court No. 1 to bring the score to its final at 4-2.
The Redbirds return to action next Saturday at home for a split doubleheader at the Evergreen Racquet Club. ISU will host the University of Missouri–St. Louis at 4:30 p.m., before squaring off against crosstown foe Illinois Wesleyan at 8 p.m.
FINAL SCORE: Dayton (4), Illinois State (2)
Doubles:
No. 1 Connor Bruce/Nikola Puric (UD) def. Emiliano Gonzalez/Tin Ostro (ILS) 6-1
No. 2 Tom Bevan/Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Matt DeMarco/Ronit Hiryur (UD) 6-3
No. 3 Eric Suk/Mikkel Zinder (UD) def. Caden Scarlett/Tomas Valencia (ILS) 7-5
Singles:
No. 1 Connor Bruce (UD) def. Nam Pham (ILS) 6-1, 7-6
No. 2 Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Matt DeMarco (UD) 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 Kyle McNally (UD) def. Adrian Dibildox (ILS) 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 Emiliano Gonzalez (ILS) vs. Mikkel Zinder (UD) 5-7, 2-5 [unfinished]
No. 5 Tomas Valencia (ILS) def. Luis Saraiva (UD) 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 Erik Eliasson (UD) def. Caden Scarlett (ILS) 6-4, 6-4
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