April 20, 2008

Results

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Singles wins from senior Luka Marinkovic and junior Daniel Tobar were not enough as the Illinois State men's tennis team fell, 5-2, to Southern Illinois on Saturday, April 20, at Carbondale, Ill. With the loss Illinois State fell to 9-10 overall and 2-4 in Missouri Valley play while Southern Illinois improved to 10-12 overall and 3-3 in the MVC. The loss was also the Redbirds sixth consecutive.

"At this point, with our squad down to five healthy players, we need to have everybody playing at their highest level to achieve success," said head coach Cris James. "That was not the case today. Our guys need to just find what it takes internally and have personal accountability to play well in matches. There is no reason we can't win our next match at the MVC tournament, we need an entire team effort though."

In singles, Marinkovic and Tobar were the only Redbirds to earn wins on the day. Marinkovic won his No. 1 position match with Lucas Waked, 7-6, 7-6. Tobar's victory came against Mariano Restrepo at the No. 3 spot, 6-1, 6-2. The singles wins snapped five and six match losing-streaks for the senior and junior respectively.

In doubles, the Redbirds did not capture the doubles point for the sixth-consecutive match. Marinkovic and Tobar were defeated at the No. 1 doubles position by Waked and Anton Leonenko, 8-5. At the No. 2 position junior Nuno Jacinto and freshman Filip Miljevic were bested by Sebastian Rubiano and Hugo Vidal, 8-3.

Illinois State will return to action on Friday, April 25 when they head to Omaha, Neb. to participate in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.