DENVER, Colo. -- Illinois State men's tennis (7-16, 2-3 SUMMIT) advanced to the Summit League Championships where the Redbirds received the No. 4 seed and will take on host No. 1 Denver University (16-6, 5-0 SUMMIT) in the second semifinal match on Friday, April 18 inside Denver Tennis Park. Action gets underway at 1 p.m. CT.

POSTSEASON HISTORY

The Redbirds are making their third appearance at the Summit League Championships, and will make an appearance for the second straight season. In 2024, Illinois State fell to the Drake Bulldogs by a score of 4-0 inside the Rodger Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. 

In 2022, the Birds dropped a 4-1 match to the No. 1 seeded Denver Pioneers as Arvid Hjalte claimed the lone Redbird win at No. 5 over DU's Daniel Krulig in straight-sets by scores of 6-3, 6-1. The 2022 Summit League Championships was hosted by the Omaha Mavericks inside Koch Family Tennis Center.

LAST TIME OUT

Illinois State defeated the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, 5-2. The Birds picked up the doubles point with wins from the pair of juniors Adrian Dibildox (Monterrey, Mexico) and Tomas Valencia (Santiago, Chile) at the No. 1 position. The pair of freshman Christian Capacci (Forlimpopoli, Italy) and Manuel Pavia (Lana, Italy) secured the second win for the Birds at No. 3 over ORU's Brewer and Holloway by a score of 6-3. 

As play shifted to singles competition, ISU picked up four singles wins.  Valencia secured a straight set win over ORU's Filho by scores of 6-2, 6-3. Dibildox battled to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (2) win at the No. 2 position in a thrilling tiebreaker.  Capacci took care of Eli Brewer in straight sets in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 at No. 4. The final Redbird win came thanks to junior Jett Leong (Melbourne, Australia) who took ORU's Aaron Brewer to a tiebreaker by scores of 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.

THE FIELD

Semifinal No. 1- (2) North Dakota vs. (3) Omaha at 9 a.m. MT/10 a.m. CT

Semifinal No. 2- (1) Denver vs (4) Illinois State at 12 p.m. MT/1 p.m. CT

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS

Denver (16-6, 5-0 SUMMIT) received the No. 1 seed following a perfect record in 2025 Summit League play and will serve as this year's tournament host. The Pioneers enter the week after picking up with a 5-0 win at the University of North Dakota in the regular season finale.

The Pioneers were led by Theo Coats and Daniel Sancho Arbizu who battled to a 6-4 win at the No. 2 doubles position against UND's Andrew Hayduke II and Ethan Terry. In singles action, Sancho Arbizu picked up a 6-2, 6-2 straight set win over Leandro Zgraggen of the Fighting Hawks at No. 1.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Singles Leaders:

•  Christian Capacci (13-5)
•  Adrian Dibildox (9-9)
•  Tomas Valencia (9-9)
•  Tom Bevan (2-2)

Doubles Leaders:

•  Christian Capacci/Manuel Pavia (3-1)
•  Tin Ostro/Tomas Valencia (2-1)
•  Adrian Dibildox/Finn Logue (2-2)

SERIES HISTORY VS DU

Denver holds a 9-2 overall record against the Redbirds, including a 6-1 win over Illinois State in Normal, Ill. last season. The first ever meeting between the Redbirds and the Pioneers took place on March 10, 1999 where the Redbirds prevailed 7-0 in Denver, Colo.

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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