Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Northern Illinois
Men's tennis defeats Northern Illinois 4-3
03/31/2006 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2006
By Lacole Hook
www.siusalukis.com
ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's tennis team swept the doubles and won three singles matches en route to a 4-3 victory over Northern Illinois Saturday at the Rockford Boylan Indoor Tennis Center.
"The deciding factor was winning the doubles point," said tennis coach Dann Nelson. "We knew it was going to be very important for this match. Northern is a tough team."
All three doubles matches were extremely close. Rodrigo Lama and Andrei Bubnov edged Brian Livingston and Alex Friesen 9-7 in the number one game. At number two, it was Feilpe Villasenor and Sergio Sanchez holding on to defeat Alex Monroy and David Katz 9-7. Tomas Gonzalez and Bojan Ilievski finished things off with the 8-6 win over Adam Ford and Diego Zegarra-Ballon.
In singles play the Salukis were without Sanchez who was out with a shoulder injury. Stepping up in his place was Ilievski who took the number six match 6-3, 6-0.
Bubnov playing in the number three spot also had a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
"Andrei continues to play really well and won in convincing fashion," Nelson said.
In the number two match Lama came up with a big win over Friesen of NIU in three sets.
"Lama was down a set in the break and came back to win the second and third set," said Nelson. "That was the turning point in the match. He showed us that he has a lot of heart."
With the victory SIU moves to 7-5 on the season. The Salukis head to Chicago for the rest of the weekend to face Illinois-Chicago and Chicago State
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 4, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 3 (at Rockford, IL / Rockford Boylan High School Indoor Tennis Center)
Doubles:
No. 1 -- Rodrigo Lama / Andrei Bubnov (SIU) def. Brian Livingston / Alex Friesen (NIU), 9-7
No. 2 -- Feilpe Villasenor / Sergio Sanchez (SIU) def. David Katz / Alex Monroy (NIU) 9-7
No. 3 -- Tomas Gonzalez / Bojan Ilievski (SIU) def. Diego Zegarra-Ballon / Adam Ford (NIU) 8-6
Singles
No. 1 -- Brian Livingston (NIU) def. Feilpe Villasenor (SIU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
No. 2 -- Rodrigo Lama (SIU) def. Alex Friesen (NIU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 -- Andrei Bubnov (SIU) def. Adam Ford (NIU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 4 -- David Katz (NIU) def. Tomas Gonzalez (SIU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 -- Jimmy Chu (NIU) def. Nick Bauer (SIU) 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 -- Bojan Ilievski (SIU) def. Diego Zegarra-Ballon (NIU) 6-3, 6-0
