Western Illinois men's tennis win two straight

MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's tennis team fell 6-1 at Saint Louis, Friday, before taking two-straight from SIU-Edwardsville, 4-2, and Missouri-St. Louis, 6-3, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

"I'm pleased for the men's team," Western Illinois head coach Michael Hunt said. "They played their hearts out against SLU on Friday night and had some chances. We went three sets in three of the six singles matches - winning one of them. And a few of our straight set losses could have gone three."

Junior Jeff Cote recorded the lone singles win for Western against Saint Louis. In three sets he went 6-3, 2-6 and 6-3 over Ken Nordheim at No. 1 singles. Freshman Patrick Hammers and sophomore Rodrigo Azevedo each took their singles flights into three sets, but did not come out on top.

Saturday, the Leathernecks won their first team match as Western Illinois won singles flights three through six. Mandela Shepard defeated Devan Faulkenbert, 7-5 and 6-4, at No. 3 singles. Hammers took the No. 4 singles competition with two sets of 6-4. Sophomore Jim Capalbo won the tiebreaker at No. 5 singles with scores of 6-1, 3-6 and 7-5. Junior Alejandro Buceta rounded out the lineup with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Dylan Reed. The doubles competition was not played.

"Against SIUE, we really showed something," Hunt said. "We didn't have a great warmup and the women's match ran long, so it was a little difficult. Jeff (Cote) got sick and was throwing up in the locker room, but still finished his match. Alex clinched the match, but Jim pulled out a big three-set win to get us there after Mandela (Shepard) and Patty (Hammers) got us started."

The Leathernecks closed out the three-day weekend competition with their second-straight team win over Missouri-Saint Louis, 6-3. Winning all, but one flight in singles play, Cote paved the way with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Andreas Hammar at No. 1 singles. Shepard won the No. 2 position by scores of 6-3 and 6-4 and Hammers defeated Tim Bryant, 6-1 and 6-2 at the No. 4 spot. Both Buceta and Capalbo won No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, in three sets. The doubles point was awarded to Missouri-St. Louis as the only Leatherneck win came from duo Dino Ilecis and Shepard, 8-4, in the No. 3 doubles flight.

"We finished the weekend strong and we improved each match, which was our goal," Hunt said. "The men did a great job pulling out the match after quickly getting down 2-0 in the doubles. Dino (Ilecic) and Mandela (Shepard) really did a great job of turning the momentum around for us. And Alex (Buceta) and Jim (Capalbo) finished off tough three-setters to close it out. I can see our fitness level really starting to help with our results. So, we'll keep at them pretty hard."

The Leathernecks resume weekend competition, February 27 and 28, starting Saturday, against Creighton in Omaha, Neb., at 7 p.m. The squad will then face Drake, Sunday, in Des Moines, Iowa at 10 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Mandela Shepard: PLAYER; Sophomore

Patrick Hammers: PLAYER; Sophomore

Jim Capalbo: PLAYER; Sophomore

Jeff Cote: PLAYER; Junior

Rodrigo Azevedo: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Mandela Shepard
: Sophomore
: PLAYER

Patrick Hammers
: Sophomore
: PLAYER

Jim Capalbo
: Sophomore
: PLAYER

Jeff Cote
: Junior
: PLAYER

Rodrigo Azevedo
: Freshman