NORMAL, Ill. – A stretch of three matches in three days awaits the Illinois State men's tennis team this weekend, as the Redbirds open Summit League action at home on Friday before heading to Chicago for matches on Saturday and Sunday.
"This is a huge weekend as we kick off conference play on Friday," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Omaha has had a great start to their season, so I expect it to be a close match. Hopefully we can get a decent crowd to come support the guys. Saturday and Sunday will again be some tough tests for us on the road in Chicago, but we've been playing well lately, and our doubles is getting better each week."
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
• The Redbirds (7-5) head into the weekend after winning a pair of matches last weekend against Missouri-St. Louis and Illinois Wesleyan.
• Last weekend, the Redbirds were led by Emiliano Gonzalez who picked up a pair of wins at the No. 1 doubles spot with two different partners on Saturday and picked up a pair of singles wins, one at the No. 2 spot and one at the No. 4 spot.
• Last season, the Redbirds picked up wins against all three of these teams during the spring slate.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
• The Mavericks (10-4) are off to a great start to the spring season and head into Friday's match as winners of eight straight matches.
• Omaha is coming off a thrilling win over crosstown rival Creighton last weekend. The Mavericks trailed 3-1 before starting their comeback run. Creighton took the early lead after winning the doubles point, but Omaha got wins in the 1, 2, 3 and 5 spots from Mikhail Korkunov, Ryoma Mishiro, Quintan Van Wijk and Ethan Gaubert to take the victory.
• Mishiro, who was recently named the Summit League Performer of the Week, won the clincher 6-4, 7-6.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• The Cougars (1-9) head into weekend coming off a close 4-3 loss at home last weekend to St. Louis.
• Chicago State won the doubles point and Pedro Alvarez won in straight sets at No. 1 singles before the Billikens won the next three to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Rodrigo Alves then won in straight sets at No. 2 to knot the match 3-3, leaving the deciding match at No. 5 where Percy Siercke lost 6-4, 6-4.
• Chicago State will open the weekend with a match on Friday against Southern University, before hosting the Redbirds on Saturday at the Park Forest Health and Fitness Club.
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
• The Flames (5-3) have won three straight matches and five out of their last six overall but have not competed since Feb. 17.
• UIC finished a fantastic month of February by defeating Duquesne by a final of 5-2 last time out.
• Senior Aleksa Bucan was named the MAC Singles Player of the Week on Feb. 20, after he went 2-0 for the Flames at the No. 2 singles position to help UIC to road victories at Cleveland State and at Duquesne.
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