BLOOMINGTON, Ill.-- Illinois State men's tennis (5-14, 1-1 SUMMIT) will return home to face the Denver Pioneers (10-6, 0-0 SUMMIT) on March 28 at 9:30 a.m. The Birds will have a quick turnaround as they face the St. Louis University Billikens (1-8, 0-0 A-10) of the Atlantic-10 Conference on March 29 at 4:30 p.m. inside Evergreen Racquet Club.

LAST TIME OUT

Illinois State  (5-14, 1-1 SUMMIT) defeated the Drake Bulldogs (7-9, 1-2 SUMMIT)  on Wednesday by a score of 4-3 inside Roger Knapp Tennis Center.

In doubles play, the Birds swept competition. At No. 1, juniors Tomas Valencia (Santiago, Chile) and Adrian Dibildox(Monterrey, Mexico) battled to a 7-5 win against Will Ecklund and Benjamin Johnson. At No. 2, juniors Caden Scarlett(Evansville, Ind.) and Tin Ostro (Zagreb, Croatia) picked up the second win of the day by a score of 7-5. The pair of freshman Christian Capacci (Forlimpopoli, Italy) and Manuel Pavia (Lana, Italy) claimed a narrow 6-4 over Jose Alessandro Hernandez and Adan Tarquino of the Bulldogs.

As play shifted to singles competition, ISU picked up three wins. At No. 1 Valencia took the tiebreaker against Christian Winstead by scores of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Capacci defeated DU's Logan Tomovski in straight sets by scores of 6-4, 6-4. The final win for the red and white came thanks to Scarlett who persevered in a close match against Adan Tarquino by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (3).

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS

Denver defeated Idaho State (Big Sky Conference) 6-1 on March 14 inside Denver Tennis Park. The Pioneers were led by the No. 1 doubles pair of Connor Robb-Wilcox and Rikuto Yamaguchi who claimed a 6-4 win over Victor Sklenka and Valentino Pellegrin of the Tigers. In singles play, Daniel Sancho Arbizu battled to a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Sklenka at the No. 1 position. The Pioneers were the 2024 Summit League Champions as they capped off an undefeated season during a 4-0 sweep over the Drake Bulldogs on April 20, 2024 to claim the title.

SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS 

St Louis University (1-8) is a member of the Atlantic-10 Conference. The Billikens dropped a 4-0 decision to Butler University (Big East) on March 21. SLU's last victory came on Jan 30 against Oral Roberts in Stillwater, Oklahoma where the Billikens bested the Golden Eagles 5-2. In doubles play, Luca Lo Nardo and Andres Castellanos won 6-1 against ORU's Lucas Couy and Richardo Filho at No. 1. In singles competition, Lo Nardo continued his momentum battling Jonathan Evans of the Golden Eagles in a 6-2, 6-2 straight-set decision.

UP NEXT

The Birds will hit the road to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (13-3, 2-0 SUMMIT) on April 5 in Grand Forks. First serve will be at 12:30 p.m. inside Choice Health and Fitness Facility.

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).

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