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vs Butler
1/28/2023 | 2 pm
Jan 28 (Sat) / 2 pm
butler
MUNCIE, Ind. – The first road contest of the spring campaign for the Illinois State men’s tennis team came down to the final match of the day to decide things, as the Redbirds fought back to tie contest before ultimately falling to Ball State by a score of 4-3 on Friday afternoon in Muncie, Indiana.
“Today was a tough one to swallow, as we had chances to win this one,” ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. “We didn’t play great doubles, as I am still experimenting with combinations so that’s a constant work in progress. We played collectively very well in singles, and it came down to just a few points in Tomás’ match but I’m so proud how he handled the moment and kept fighting and almost pulled it out after being down 5-2 in the third set. We’ll digest this one and be ready to go tomorrow.”
Ball State took the early advantage, winning the doubles point with vicotories at the No. 1 and no. 3 spots. However, the Redbirds quickly tied things up in singles play as Nam Pham rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Danilo Kovacevic at the No. 1 spot to tie the match at 1-1. A win by Eli Herran over Melker Isaksson at the No. 3 spot in straight sets gave Ball State the advantage once again and a win by Petar Petrovic over Dominick Cuchran at the No. 6 spot extended the BSU lead to 3-1.
A 6-3, 6-4 win by Adrian Dibildox over Jacks Lancaster at No. 5 then trimmed the ISU deficit to 3-2, as action at the No. 2 and no. 4 spots headed to third sets following first set wins by the Redbirds. A 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory by Arvid Hjalte at the No. 2 spot over BSU’s Vince Orlando ultimately tied the match up at 3-3 leaving the match coming down to the result on court No. 4. Ultimately, it was Ball State’s Sajin Smith who picked up a hard-fought win over Tomas Valencia 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to give the Cardinals the win over the Redbirds.
The Redbirds return to action on Saturday for a split doubleheader in Champaign, Illinois. ISU will first take on Butler at 2 pm, followed by a match with the host Illini at 6 pm Links for live results and live video for the match with Illinois can be found on the men’s tennis schedule page at GoRedbirds.com.
FINAL SCORE: Ball State (4), Illinois State (3)
Doubles:
No. 1 Danilo Kovacevic/Parrish Simmons (BSU) def. Arvid Hjalte/Adrian Dibildox (ILS) 6-3
No. 2 Melker Isaksson/Tin Ostro (ILS) vs Vince Orlando/Eli Herran (BSU) 5-6 DNF
No. 3 Jacks Lancaster/Abe Wojtalik (BSU) def. Emiliano Gonzales/Dominic Anderson (ILS) 7-5
singles:
No. 1 Nam Pham (ILS) def. Danilo Kovacevic (BSU) 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 Arvid Hjalte (ILS) def. Vince Orlando (BSU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
No. 3 Eli Herran (BSU) def. Melker Isaksson (ILS) 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 Sajin Smith (BSU) def. Tomás Valencia (ILS) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 Adrian Dibildox (ILS) def. Jack’s Lancaster (BSU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Petar Petrovic (BSU) def. Dominick Cuchran (ILS) 6-4, 6-1
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