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Men's Tennis Falls to DePaul, 7-0
April 6, 2008 NORMAL, Ill. - Senior Luka Marinkovic took his opponent to the wire in the second set of their No. 1 singles match, but was unable to force a third set in his last home match ever as a Redbird. With the losses yesterday and today, Illinois State slipped into a losing streak for just the second time this season. The previous was a three-match skid from February 1-9. "At the outset of the weekend I felt like we had a chance to be exposed by playing teams like Drake and DePaul," said head coach Cris James. "I think that happened with a few of our guys. It's not a bad thing at all if we are able to go from here and improve upon those weaknesses in practice." In singles, Illinois State dropped several hard-fought matches on the day. In addition to Marinkovic's close loss to Jose Moncada, 6-3, 7-6, the Redbirds also saw junior Daniel Tobar nearly take a set from Vanja Grgec at the No. 3 position before falling, 7-6, 6-3. Sophomore Michael Hobson also dropped a couple of close sets, losing to Ben Hartman, 6-4, 6-4. James was pleased with his team's ability to compete hard after dropping both doubles matches to start the day. "I was not happy with our doubles performance," said James. "We needed to play with more aggression and confidence. We let them dictate the matches too much in doubles. We came out after that in singles play and got after it. I felt that we really fought hard. It's always disappointing not to pick up a win, especially with the new facilities being opened up, but it was not for lack of effort from our players." For the second-straight day the Redbirds enjoyed a full-capacity crowd at their new facility, The Gregory Street Tennis Courts. It was the `Birds second match ever at the new facility, and their last home match of the season.
"The new courts are in great shape, the playing surface is much improved over our old facility," said James. "It has been nice to get the last two home matches outdoors. With these courts being closer to campus than our indoor facility, it allows for more fans to come out and enjoy it. Yesterday we had a real good number of people at the match, and even though we weren't able to pull out the win, it created a real fun environment." The Redbirds return to action next weekend when they travel to Wichita, Kan., to take on New Mexico State on Saturday, April 12, and Wichita State on Sunday, April 13. The match against New Mexico State is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start, while first serve against Wichita State is set for 11 a.m. |
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