Men's Tennis defeats Illinois State, 5-2

April 20, 2008

By Beth Miller
www.SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's tennis team hosted Illinois State today, in their last regular season match. With the Redbirds and the Salukis both holding a 2-3 conference record, the two teams were battling for a No. 4 seed in the MVC Tournament. Southern Illinois defeated Illinois Sate, 5-2, to lock in their position at the No. 4 seed.

The Salukis (9-12, 2-3) captured the doubles point, taking all three doubles matches from the Redbirds (9-10, 2-3). Sebastian Rubiano and Hugo Vidal teamed up at No. 2 doubles, defeating Nuno Jacinto and Filip Miljevic, 8-3. Lucas Waked and Anton Leonenko grabbed the victory at No. 3 doubles, with an 8-5 win over Luka Marinkovic and Daniel Tobar. Chase Miller and Mariano Restrepo won by default at No. 3 doubles, due to Illinois State's lack of a sixth player.

With the doubles point in their favor, and an automatic default win at No. 6 singles, the Salukis headed into singles action with a 2-0 lead. Restrepo fought a tough match at No. 3 singles, but was unable to hold off Tobar, falling 6-1, 6-2. Rubiano grabbed at win at No. 5 singles over Michael Hobson, putting the Salukis up 3-1. Vidal clenched the win over the Redbirds at No. 2 singles, with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Jacinto. Leonenko defeated Miljevic at No .4 singles, 6-3, 6-4. Waked and Marinkovic were the last to finish, in a battle at No. 1 singles. Waked was unable to hold off Marinkovic, falling in two tiebreakers.

The Salukis will enter the conference tournament next weekend as a No. 4 seed.

Southern Illinois 5, Illinois State 2

Singles
No. 1 - Luka Marinkovic (ILS) def. Lucas Waked (SIU) 7-6, 7-6
No. 2 - Hugo Vidal (SIU) def. Nuno Jacinto (ILS) 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 - Daniel Tobar (ILS) def. Mariano Restrepo (SIU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 - Anton Leonenko (SIU) def. Filip Miljevic (ILS) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 - Sebastian Rubiano (SIU) def. Michael Hobson (ILS) 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 - Chase Miller (SIU) won by default

Doubles
No. 1 - Waked/Anton (SIU) def. Marinkovic/Tobar (ILS) 8-5
No. 2 - Vidal/Rubiano (SIU) def. Jacinto/Miljevic (ILS) 8-3
No. 3 - Miller/Restrepo (SIU) won by default

Southern Illinois 10-12, 3-3
Illinois State 9-11, 2-4