McLean County Times

Illinois State University's men's tennis team is set to face Northern Illinois University (NIU) on Saturday at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington. The Redbirds, with a current record of 2-3, will meet NIU, which holds a 3-1 record in the Mid-American Conference.

In their previous match, Illinois State fell to Notre Dame's Fighting Irish with a score of 6-1. Freshman Christian Capacci secured a victory in singles play against Kyran Magimay of Notre Dame.

Tomas Valencia and Caden Scarlett from Illinois State have been ranked within the top 200 doubles teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, currently sitting at No. 116.

Head coach Mark Klysner expressed anticipation for the upcoming match against NIU: "This should be a great match. NIU is always one of the front runners to win their conference so I expect a very hard played match. We will have to play much better doubles to start with and get that momentum going into the singles where we seem to be more comfortable at the moment. Should be a fun one!"

The Huskies recently achieved a straight-set victory over Judson University and have secured wins against IU Indy, Eastern Illinois University, and Judson this season.

Following Saturday's game, Illinois State will embark on three consecutive away matches starting in February. They are scheduled to compete against IU Indy on February 7th before heading to Oklahoma for games against New Mexico State and Tulsa University on February 9th.

For updates on Illinois State men's tennis, fans can visit GoRedbirds.com or follow them on social media platforms "X" and Instagram under RedbirdMTEN.