NORMAL Ill.-- The Illinois State men's tennis team will travel to Evanston, Illinois to face the Northwestern Wildcats (2-5) of the Big Ten Conference on Saturday. ISU will return home on Sunday as the Birds host the Western Michigan Broncos (6-3) of the Mid-American Conference inside Evergreen Racquet Club at 12:30 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The Birds (3-6) dropped a pair of matches against New Mexico State (6-8) and Tulsa (6-5) on Sunday by scores of 4-3 and 5-2 inside Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
Against NMSU, the Redbirds picked up three singles wins but dropped the doubles point. At No. 1, Tomas Valencia played to a 7-6, 6-3 win over Itay Feigin. At No. 3, Tin Ostro claimed the tiebreaker against Matias Rojas, 6-2, 7-6 (3). At No. 4, Jett Leong won in straight sets against Patrick Lohmann by scores of 6-4 and 6-3.
Against Tulsa, ISU claimed two singles wins. At No. 2, Tin Ostro defeated Connor Doig by scores of 7-6 (3), 4-6 and 10-4. At No. 3, Christian Capacci bested Nikola Puntaric in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Northwestern was most recently swept by Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference 4-0 on February 9 in Clemson, N.C. Carter Pate picked up a singles win for the Wildcats, which was the first of his Division I tennis career. At the No. 1 doubles position, Greyson Casey and Felix Norby took a first set win against the Tigers.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Western Michigan defeated Drake by a score of 4-1 on February 1 in Madison, Wis. At the No. 1 doubles position, Jack Davison and Brogan Pierce beat Ben Johnson and Will Ecklund of the Bulldogs. In singles play, Anton Arzhankin took Johnson to three sets to claim a 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 victory.
UP NEXT-
Illinois State travels to Madison, Wis. to face the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison inside Nielsen Tennis Stadium on Wednesday, Feb.19. The Birds will stay on the road as they head to Lafayette, Ind, to take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Feb. 23.
FOLLOW THE REDBIRDS-
For all the latest on Illinois State men's tennis, stay tuned to GoRedbirds.com and follow the team on "X" (RedbirdMTEN) and Instagram (redbirdmtennis).
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets; Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos, and more.
