TULSA, Okla. – A tough road match and challenging weather conditions faced the Illinois State men's tennis team on Wednesday in Tulsa, and the Redbirds rose to the occasion with a 6-1 victory over Oral Roberts to improve to 3-0 in Summit League play.
"What a tough match today was. Playing outside in some really windy conditions definitely challenged us," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Credit to the guys for taking the doubles point, as it wasn't our best as of late, but I think the recent success we've had in doubles carried us through to get the point. Singles was a grind all around, but again with how we've been playing coupled with the whole team buying into finishing the season at the top, we played with a lot of confidence. So now we set our sights on Senior Day this coming Sunday against a really good North Dakota squad."
The Redbirds once again took advantage of some strong doubles play to take an early lead in the match. The No. 2 doubles tandem of Arvid Hjalte and Nam Pham defeated Ricardo Filho and Parv Nage by a score of 6-0 to put ISU up early. ORU then answered with a win on court No. 1 to tie things up, leaving the decision up to court No. 3. That match was a back-and-forth battle, however it was ISU's Caden Scarlett and Tomas Valencia beat Oral Roberts' Cayden Cheek and Aaron Brewer in a tiebreaker, 7-6, to secure the doubles point.
ISU then rolled in singles action, picking up straight-set wins at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 spots. Oral Roberts picked up a win at the No. 3 spot for its lone point of the match, and the final point of the match for the Redbirds came from Tin Ostro at the No. 6 spots as he picked up a three-set win in the tiebreaker.
Illinois State is back in action on Sunday for its final home match of the season, when the Redbirds host North Dakota on Senior Day at 10 a.m.
FINAL SCORE: Illinois State (6), Oral Roberts (1)
Doubles:Â
No. 1 Eli Brewer/Gustavo Pinho (ORU) def. Emiliano Gonzalez/Tin Ostro (ILS) 7-5
No. 2 Arvid Hjalte/Nam Pham (ILS) def. Ricardo Filho/Parv Nage (ORU) 6-0
No. 3 Caden Scarlett/Tomas Valencia (ILS) def. Cayden Cheek/Aaron Brewer (ORU) 7-6Â
Singles:
No. 1 Nam Pham (ILS) def. Gustavo Pinho (ORU) 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Ricardo Filho (ORU) 6-4, 6-0
No. 3 Eli Brewer (ORU) def. Adrian Dibildox (ILS) 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Tomas Valencia (ILS) def. Parv Nage (ORU) 6-4, 7-6Â
No. 5 Emiliano Gonzalez (ILS) def. Cayden Cheek (ORU) 7-6, 6-2
No. 6 Tin Ostro (ILS) def. Ryan Holloway (ORU) 6-2, 3-6, 10-7
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