With a 7-0 sweep of Lindenwood, Illinois State men’s tennis head coach Mark Klysner earned his 100th win at the helm of the Redbirds on Wednesday at Evergreen Racquet Club.
The Redbirds advanced to 2-3 on the season. Klysner stands two wins short of ISU’s program record for head-coaching wins, held by current Saint Mary’s head coach Greg Kennett.
Illinois State men’s tennis head coach Mark Klysner (right) leads the Redbirds and earns his 100th win at ISU in Illinois State’s 7-0 victory over Lindenwood on Jan. 31 at Evergreen Racquet Club.
“Yeah, 100 wins is always nice, but again, I can’t take credit for it. That’s the guys that put me in that position, who got me a lot of wins over the year,” Klysner said.
“We didn’t play nearly as well as we had leading up to this. I think we just had one of those days where some guys played very well and some guys maybe a little tighter. But that’s ok. We’ve got to have those days to get better,” Klysner continued.
ISU had a clean sweep in doubles, started at the No. 2 spot by Arvid Hjalte and Tom Bevan.
“We’ve been improving our doubles and kind of finding our partners, our chemistry between every pair,” Hjalte said. “We’re not famous for being a doubles team but we’re working on it.”
Caden Scarlett and Tomas Valencia secured the doubles point for ISU at No. 3 before Tin Ostro and Emiliano Gonzales finished the Redbirds’ sweep at the No. 1 spot.
Ostro kept up his strong play, starting singles play with a win at No. 5 for ISU. Hjalte held onto his momentum into singles as well, earning a straight-set win 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2.
“Even though we’re, on paper, supposed to win this match, it’s always tough to go out and do it. But I did the job and got it done, and I feel like most of the team did that,” Hjalte said.
After a 7-5 win in the first set at No. 1, Nam Pham stepped it up for a 6-0 victory to win his singles match. Earning the fourth point for ISU, Pham’s win clinched the team win.
“After digging a little bit deeper, I was able to pull out the first set and I think I was pretty comfortable throughout the second set,” Pham.
Valencia was the fourth Redbird to earn a straight-set win, taking down LU’s Mattis Lamm 6-2, 6-2.
Playing at No. 3 and No. 4 for the Redbirds, Adrian Dibildox and Gonzales took three-set wins over LU.