NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's tennis team will take on Southeast Missouri State Friday and Western Illinois Sunday to open the 2016 spring dual season at Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Illinois.
Competition will begin Friday with a match against Southeast Missouri State at 7:30 p.m., followed by Sunday's 1 p.m. match against Western Illinois.
"We are really excited to open the season at home this weekend," said head coach Maja Kovacek. "We had some great practices this week and I feel like we are in a good place going into our first match Friday night. We will look to be aggressive from the beginning and control the points."
The Redbirds look to build off of a successful fall season. The team earned two doubles titles and one singles title at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships in October. The Redbird duo of Marcia Tere-Apisah and Kadi Ilves won the Flight 1 Doubles title, while Veronika Golanova and Jana Kustkova brought home the Flight 2 Doubles title. Sophomore, Valerija Gercar won the Flight 7 Singles championship. Along with her MVC championship title, Gercar was also recently ranked No. 114 in singles by the International Tennis Association (ITA).
The team capped off the fall season with a 32-22 singles mark and 27-13 doubles record. Tere-Apisah and Ilves proved to be strong both individually and as a duo. Tere-Apisah drew attention in the fall by finishing with an 8-2 overall singles record, winning a championship bracket title at the Drake Jamboree in October. Ilves wrapped up the fall season going 4-1, bringing home a championship title at the Bradley Invitational in September. Together, they finished the fall season with a 10-1 doubles record, winning two doubles titles.
This will be the first time the Redbirds will face Southeast Missouri State and Western Illinois under Kovacek. Southeast Missouri State recorded 12 singles and three doubles wins in its first fall tournament. The Redhawks went on to earn eight victories at the UT Martin Tournament and concluded their fall season with 11 wins at the Central Arkansas Tournament. Friday's match also marks the season opener for Southeast Missouri State.
Western Illinois won five singles titles in the fall, two at the Quincy Invitational and one at the Warhawk Invitational. The Leathernecks open their spring season just one day before they face the Redbirds by facing Eastern Illinois.
Admission is free, and both matches will be held at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington, Illinois. Complimentary pizza will be provided to fans at Friday's match, and doughnuts will be available at Sunday's contest. For updates on ISU women's tennis throughout the weekend, follow them on Twitter: @RedbirdWTEN.
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