At the start of the third set of his No. 6 singles match against Tennessee-Martin’s Chris Slabbert on March 26, freshman Jordan Nestrud received word that his match would be the deciding point of the day.

“We started the third set when we found out that it was 3-all and all eyes were pretty much on me,” Nestrud said. “I was serving with the score at 3-4 and I double faulted three times. He held, and that was pretty much it. It was a ton of pressure; I never had anything like that in high school.”

Slabbert went on to win the match, 6-3, and UT-Martin prevailed.

At the 1,000-student Morton High School. Nestrud was the king of the tennis courts. After just two years of taking serious lessons, Nestrud was competing at No. 2 singles on varsity as a sophomore. A year later in 2004, Nestrud would lead the Potters to a conference championship and earn the Boys Tennis Player of the Year Award from the Peoria Journal Star.

Nestrud had an even better year in 2005.

He excelled individually winning the conference singles championship and also the sectional singles championship. He was named second-team all-state and won the PJS’s Boys Tennis Player of the Year Award again, the first ever to win it two straight years.

“Jordan is a competitor,” said Joal Stanfield, his former high school coach. “He hates to lose. Anything he does, from practicing to playing ping-pong, Jordan wants to win.”

Because of that competitiveness, Nestrud was hard on himself after the loss versus Tennessee-Martin and was ready to prove himself.

“After that match where I lost, I felt like I let a lot of people down and I wanted to get back and win one,” he said.

He would get his chance the following weekend against Morehead State.

Again with the match on the line, Nestrud won 6-0, 6-0, defeating Morehead State’s Martin Dorcich, clinching Eastern’s first Ohio Valley Conference victory of the season.

“Jordan absolutely smoked those guys last weekend,” freshman Vuk Milicevic said.

Nestrud won both his singles matches last weekend. He was the only singles winner for the men or women against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.

Playing at No. 6 singles after coming from such a successful high school background, Nestrud had to make a difficult adjustment when he came to Eastern.

“It’s challenging and different when you come to practice every day and there are five or six guys that can beat you when you’re used to being the best,” Nestrud said. “I’ll be honest; Chuck (LeVaque) and Vuk can beat me pretty bad.”

When Nestrud first came to Eastern he started off at No. 7, which is a reserve role on the team and at that position he would only see action if one of the top six players was injured or tired.

But opportunity presented itself after junior Ryan Blakenbacker’s injured his knee. Nestrud was quick to step in and try to help out the team and the coach that bailed him out earlier in the summer.

Nestrud originally committed to Eastern under former coach Brian Holzgrafe. But after Holzgrafe’s resignation, Nestrud’s tennis future was up in the air. At a summer league try-out in Springfield, another school made an offer.

“The University of Illinois-Springfield coaches were there and they offered me a lot of money so I decided to verbally commit to them,” Nestrud said. “They kept telling me that everything was set then two weeks before school was supposed to start they told me it didn’t work out and I got denied. I was lucky enough that Coach Blackburn worked something out for me and I got in here.”

He has a record of 6-1 in No. 3 doubles play with Milicevic..

“I never played with somebody as good as Vuk, ” Nestrud said. “I have so much confidence because I know if I don’t make my shot, I know he will make his return.”

Milicevic agrees with Nestrud about how comfortable they are together on the court.

“We have a very laid back style, a very easy-going attitude on the court,” Milicevic said. “I always support him 100 percent with his decisions during a match, and he supports me 100 percent as well.”

Nestrud started playing tennis when he was little, but it was only casual. Not until the summer before his freshman year in high school did he begin taking serious lessons.

“I feel like at this point in many people’s careers they have already peaked,” Nestrud said. “I’m still improving more than other people because they started younger; my peak is still to come.”

Stanfield echoed that thought.

“He started playing the game so late but he has a ton of ability,” he said. “If he stays focused and gets good coaching he can really become a dynamite player very quickly.”