Box Score

ATHERTON, CA – Demonstrating tremendous resiliency and determination, Menlo Men's Tennis rallied with four impressive singles wins to achieve a 4-3 victory hosting NCAA Division I Illinois State on Friday out at Cartan Tennis Courts. The program's first time besting a NCAA DI opponent was powered by wins from senior Asger Emil Ildor, junior Robinson Pelluault, sophomore Tijl Forger, and ultimately the clincher in freshman David Espinosa Navarro all in straight sets.

Pair Of Tiebreaker Wins Provide Momentum For Comeback
Illinois State opened the day's action by sweeping doubles play despite the Oaks challenging the Redbirds with nine combined games won. The match was then initially evened as a focused Asger Emil Ildor pushed past Christian Capacci 6-4, 6-3 on Court 2 before Forger delivered nearly the same score (6-3, 6-4) versus Caden Scarlett on Court 5 for his fitting triumph on a service ace.

ISU came back to briefly tie the match with their first singles win, but Pelluault reasserted Menlo's advantage on a hard-fought second-set tiebreaker that gave him the 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Manuel Pavia on Court 6. With just two matches remaining, Espinosa Navarro ended first, using the momentum from an emotional opening-set tiebreaker to command the 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 clincher on Court 4 against Jett Leong.

Up Next
The next time the Oaks compete in an official match will be on Sunday when they face Ventura College at 3 p.m. in Avila Beach to start a stretch of three matches in as many days in Southern California.